CVE-2026-45944

A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's IOMMU (Input/Output Memory Management Unit) VT-d (Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O) component. When a context entry is being torn down, the 'Present' bit might not be cleared before other parts of the entry are zeroed. This can lead to the hardware reading an inconsistent state, resulting in unpredictable system behavior or spurious faults.

This vulnerability is rated as a Moderate impact because triggering the condition requires local privileges and specific timing during device detachment or reconfiguration, primarily resulting in a denial of service. The flaw specifically affects systems utilizing Intel VT-d hardware when device context tables undergo teardown operations, such as dynamic PCI passthrough release on virtualization hosts. Because hardware can fetch transiently inconsistent entries during the deallocation process, the system may encounter spurious faults or unexpected instability.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.