CVE-2026-99017

NONE
—CVSS v3
—CVSS v2
— EPSS (exploit probability)
—CWE

Description

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.

Affected routers (0)

No routers currently mapped to this CVE in our database.

External references