Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2026-31561

high Nessus Plugin ID 310172

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/cpu: Remove X86_CR4_FRED from the CR4 pinned bits mask Commit in Fixes added the FRED CR4 bit to the CR4 pinned bits mask so that whenever something else modifies CR4, that bit remains set. Which in itself is a perfectly fine idea. However, there's an issue when during boot FRED is initialized: first on the BSP and later on the APs. Thus, there's a window in time when exceptions cannot be handled. This becomes particularly nasty when running as SEV-{ES,SNP} or TDX guests which, when they manage to trigger exceptions during that short window described above, triple fault due to FRED MSRs not being set up yet. See Link tag below for a much more detailed explanation of the situation. So, as a result, the commit in that Link URL tried to address this shortcoming by temporarily disabling CR4 pinning when an AP is not online yet. However, that is a problem in itself because in this case, an attack on the kernel needs to only modify the online bit - a single bit in RW memory - and then disable CR4 pinning and then disable SM*P, leading to more and worse things to happen to the system. So, instead, remove the FRED bit from the CR4 pinning mask, thus obviating the need to temporarily disable CR4 pinning. If someone manages to disable FRED when poking at CR4, then idt_invalidate() would make sure the system would crash'n'burn on the first exception triggered, which is a much better outcome security-wise. (CVE-2026-31561)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: High

ID: 310172

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2026_31561.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 4/24/2026

Updated: 4/24/2026

Supported Sensors: Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 6.2

Temporal Score: 5.3

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2026-31561

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.1

Temporal Score: 6.5

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:U/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-doc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-extra-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools-libs, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-abi-stablelists, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-kvm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-tools, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rv, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-devel, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:10, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-uki-virt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:libperf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-debug-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-zfcpdump-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-uki-virt-addons, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-modules, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:python3-perf, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-debug-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-modules-extra, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-devel-matched, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:rtla, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug-modules-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-debug, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt-64k-core, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-64k-devel-matched

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 4/24/2026

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2026-31561

Detections

Analytics