shadow paging

Shadow paging is a memory virtualization technique used by KVM on x86 hosts to manage guest page tables. Recent discussions on WindowsForum.com highlight a critical use-after-free vulnerability in KVM's shadow paging implementation, tracked as CVE-2026-46113. This flaw can leave stale reverse-map entries when an unexpected guest frame number appears in a shadow page, potentially leading to memory corruption or privilege escalation. The vulnerability primarily affects Linux hosts running KVM with shadow paging enabled. System administrators are advised to apply kernel patches from their distribution as soon as fixes are available. The topic underscores the importance of keeping virtualization infrastructure updated to mitigate security risks in enterprise environments.