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Unscored CVE-2021-47092 EUVD-2021-33740GHSA-hg5r-659j-4p32

KVM: VMX: Always clear vmx->fail on emulation_required

Published Mar 4, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026 · Assigned by Linux

Vendor: Linux Product: Linux Package: linux Package: linux-allwinner-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.0 Package: linux-aws-5.11 Package: linux-aws-5.13 Package: linux-aws-5.19 Package: linux-aws-5.3 Package: linux-aws-5.8 Package: linux-aws-6.2 Package: linux-azure Package: linux-azure-5.11 Package: linux-azure-5.13 Package: linux-azure-5.19 Package: linux-azure-5.3 Package: linux-azure-5.8 Package: linux-azure-6.2 Package: linux-azure-edge Package: linux-azure-fde Package: linux-azure-fde-5.19 Package: linux-azure-fde-6.2 Package: linux-gcp Package: linux-gcp-5.11 Package: linux-gcp-5.13 Package: linux-gcp-5.19 Package: linux-gcp-5.3 Package: linux-gcp-5.8 Package: linux-gcp-6.2 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop-5.4 Package: linux-hwe Package: linux-hwe-5.11 Package: linux-hwe-5.13 Package: linux-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-hwe-5.8 Package: linux-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-oem Package: linux-oem-5.10 Package: linux-oem-5.13 Package: linux-oem-5.14 Package: linux-oem-5.17 Package: linux-oem-5.6 Package: linux-oem-6.0 Package: linux-oem-6.1 Package: linux-oracle-5.0 Package: linux-oracle-5.11 Package: linux-oracle-5.13 Package: linux-oracle-5.3 Package: linux-oracle-5.8 Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: VMX: Always clear vmx->fail on emulation_required

Revert a relatively recent change that set vmx->fail if the vCPU is in L2
and emulation_required is true, as that behavior is completely bogus.
Setting vmx->fail and synthesizing a VM-Exit is contradictory and wrong:

(a) it's impossible to have both a VM-Fail and VM-Exit
(b) vmcs.EXIT_REASON is not modified on VM-Fail
(c) emulation_required refers to guest state and guest state checks are
always VM-Exits, not VM-Fails.

For KVM specifically, emulation_required is handled before nested exits
in __vmx_handle_exit(), thus setting vmx->fail has no immediate effect,
i.e. KVM calls into handle_invalid_guest_state() and vmx->fail is ignored.
Setting vmx->fail can ultimately result in a WARN in nested_vmx_vmexit()
firing when tearing down the VM as KVM never expects vmx->fail to be set
when L2 is active, KVM always reflects those errors into L1.

------------[ cut here ]------------
WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 21158 at arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c:4548
nested_vmx_vmexit+0x16bd/0x17e0
arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c:4547
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0 PID: 21158 Comm: syz-executor.1 Not tainted 5.16.0-rc3-syzkaller #0
Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011
RIP: 0010:nested_vmx_vmexit+0x16bd/0x17e0 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c:4547
Code: <0f> 0b e9 2e f8 ff ff e8 57 b3 5d 00 0f 0b e9 00 f1 ff ff 89 e9 80
Call Trace:
vmx_leave_nested arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c:6220 [inline]
nested_vmx_free_vcpu+0x83/0xc0 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/nested.c:330
vmx_free_vcpu+0x11f/0x2a0 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c:6799
kvm_arch_vcpu_destroy+0x6b/0x240 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:10989
kvm_vcpu_destroy+0x29/0x90 arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:441
kvm_free_vcpus arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:11426 [inline]
kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x3ef/0x6b0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:11545
kvm_destroy_vm arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1189 [inline]
kvm_put_kvm+0x751/0xe40 arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1220
kvm_vcpu_release+0x53/0x60 arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:3489
__fput+0x3fc/0x870 fs/file_table.c:280
task_work_run+0x146/0x1c0 kernel/task_work.c:164
exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:32 [inline]
do_exit+0x705/0x24f0 kernel/exit.c:832
do_group_exit+0x168/0x2d0 kernel/exit.c:929
get_signal+0x1740/0x2120 kernel/signal.c:2852
arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x9c/0x730 arch/x86/kernel/signal.c:868
handle_signal_work kernel/entry/common.c:148 [inline]
exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:172 [inline]
exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x191/0x220 kernel/entry/common.c:207
__syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:289 [inline]
syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x2e/0x70 kernel/entry/common.c:300
do_syscall_64+0x53/0xd0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:86
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.15 5.15.12

Fixed in Linux distributions

Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.

ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian 14 linux 5.15.15-1 —
Debian 13 linux 5.15.15-1 —
Debian 12 linux 5.15.15-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +20 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +26 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —

Advisories 1

References