CVE-2026-89927
CVE-2026-89927 is a remote code execution vulnerability. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-89927 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: hyper-v: Clamp stimer deadline to avoid livelock Fix an issue where userspace or the guest can program…
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86: hyper-v: Clamp stimer deadline to avoid livelock
Fix an issue where userspace or the guest can program an Hyper-V synthetic timer to have a deadline in the past via integer overflow, preventing the CPU from making progress and triggering an RCU stall.
Hyper-V's SynIC exposes 4 per-vCPU synthetic timers to the guest, which are emulated by KVM. Each is programmed through the HV_X64_MSR_STIMERi_CONFIG and HV_X64_MSR_STIMERi_COUNT MSRs. Depending on CONFIG, COUNT represents either the absolute expiration time or the period of a periodic timer, both expressed in 100ns ticks. These timers may be set both by the guest (WRMSR) and the host (KVM_SET_MSRS).
When the timer is enabled, stimer_start() translates COUNT to an absolute monotonic deadline and arms an hrtimer. If COUNT is set to a value close to U64_MAX, the deadline calculation can overflow.
ktime_add_ns(ktime_now, 100 * (stimer->exp_time - time_now))
This can result in a CPU livelock. stimer_start() arms the timer via hrtimer_start() with a deadline in the past, which causes it to immediately fire. The stimer callback then raises KVM_RQ_HV_STIMER, with the intention of causing KVM to deliver a synthetic interrupt on the next vCPU guest enter.
Then, once userspace issues KVM_RUN, vcpu_enter_guest() consumes the request, calling kvm_hv_process_stimers(). This would normally disable the timer via stimer_expiration() once the deadline is in the past. However, the deadline comparison is done between the KVM reference counter and stime->exp_time, which is a big value close to U64_MAX, so this never happens for a few thousand years.
kvm_hv_process_timers() then re-arms the timer via stimer_start(), since it was not disabled, which again fires immediately. Before entering the guest, kvm_vcpu_exit_request() checks kvm_request_pending(), which returns true due to the newly raised KVM_REQ_HV_STIMER. Then vcpu_enter_guest() aborts the guest entry, returning early into vcpu_run(), which loops back again into vcpu_enter_guest(), restarting the cycle.
Since there are no manual yields in this loop, a task with SCHED_FIFO may starve RCU grace-period kthreads, which exposes the stalls found by syzcaller:
rcu: INFO: rcu_preempt detected stalls on CPUs/tasks:
rcu: (detected by 1, t=10502 jiffies, g=14269, q=1142 ncpus=2)
rcu: All QSes seen, last rcu_preempt kthread activity 10500 (4294965239-4294954739), jiffies_till_next_fqs=1, root ->qsmask 0x0
rcu: rcu_preempt kthread starved for 10500 jiffies! g14269 f0x2 RCU_GP_WAIT_FQS(5) ->state=0x0 ->cpu=0
rcu: Unless rcu_preempt kthread gets sufficient CPU time, OOM is now expected behavior.
( ... )
Call Trace:
<IRQ>
__run_hrtimer kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1773 [inline]
__hrtimer_run_queues+0x408/0xc30 kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1841
hrtimer_interrupt+0x45b/0xaa0 kernel/time/hrtimer.c:1903
local_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1045 [inline]
__sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x102/0x3e0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1062
instr_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1056 [inline]
sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xa1/0xc0 arch/x86/kernel/apic/apic.c:1056
</IRQ>
<TASK>
asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x1a/0x20 arch/x86/include/asm/idtentry.h:697
RIP: 0010:__raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore include/linux/spinlock_api_smp.h:152 [inline]
RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore+0xa8/0x110 kernel/locking/spinlock.c:194
Code: 74 05 e8 0b f4 5f f6 48 c7 44 24 20 00 00 00 00 9c 8f 44 24 20 f6 44 24 21 02 75 4f f7 c3 00 02 00 00 74 01 fb bf 01 00 00 00 <e8> 23 6b 27 f6 65 8b 05 7c 60 5a 07 85 c0 74 40 48 c7 04 24 0e 36
RSP: 0018:ffffc900040a7320 EFLAGS: 00000206
RAX: 5de15cb931505900 RBX: 0000000000000a06 RCX: 5de15cb931505900
RDX: 0000000000000007 RSI: ffffffff8daa9dc3 RDI: 0000000000000001
RBP: ffffc900040a73b0 R08: ffffffff8fc3d0
---truncated---
Detection & mitigation playbook
VulnerabilityDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for the affected component. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Remediation status
No patched version of the affected component has shipped for CVE-2026-89927 yet. Where your build allows, override or pin the dependency away from the vulnerable range, and apply any maintainer-recommended mitigation.
Mitigate without a patch
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-89927 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-89927. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-89927 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-89927 across dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.