CVE Catalog

CVE-2026-99017

HighCVSS 7.0
Published: Updated: Translated: NVD NIST

Exploitation Probability (EPSS)

Low risk
0.21%

10th percentile - higher than 10% of all known CVEs

Summary

In the Linux kernel, errata_probe_ghostwrite() only marks the CPU vulnerable at the early boot stage, which requires CONFIG_RISCV_ALTERNATIVE_EARLY. That option is currently selected only by ERRATA_THEAD_MAE, so with ERRATA_THEAD_GHOSTWRITE=y and ERRATA_THEAD_MAE=n the vulnerable state is never set and the mitigation does not apply. The fix selects RISCV_ALTERNATIVE_EARLY from ERRATA_THEAD_GHOSTWRITE.

Risk Assessment

On vulnerable T-Head C9xx CPUs the GhostWrite mitigation is not applied and the system incorrectly reports not affected, potentially allowing exploitation. Affects specific RISC-V kernel configurations.

Recommendation

Update the Linux kernel to a version with the fix or enable ERRATA_THEAD_MAE to ensure early vulnerability detection. Verify kernel configuration on RISC-V T-Head platforms.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

See all
Original NVD description (English source)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: riscv: errata: select RISCV_ALTERNATIVE_EARLY for THEAD GHOSTWRITE errata_probe_ghostwrite() only marks the CPU as vulnerable when it is called at the RISCV_ALTERNATIVES_EARLY_BOOT stage, and the mitigation in ghostwrite_enable_mitigation() only takes effect if the vulnerable state was recorded before the boot alternatives are patched. The early boot stage is only executed when CONFIG_RISCV_ALTERNATIVE_EARLY is enabled, which currently is only selected by ERRATA_THEAD_MAE. In a kernel built with ERRATA_THEAD_GHOSTWRITE=y but ERRATA_THEAD_MAE=n, the early alternatives never run, so ghostwrite_state is never set to VULNERABLE: ghostwrite_enable_mitigation() returns false, xtheadvector remains enabled, and sysfs reports "Not affected" on a vulnerable T-Head C9xx CPU. Select RISCV_ALTERNATIVE_EARLY from ERRATA_THEAD_GHOSTWRITE so that the vulnerability is detected in the early boot stage and the default mitigation is applied.

Vulnerability data from NVD (NIST) · CISA KEV · EPSS