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High · 7.8 CVE-2022-49882 EUVD-2025-12889GHSA-crgv-wqmc-m2wr

KVM: Reject attempts to consume or refresh inactive gfn_to_pfn_cache

Published May 1, 2025 · Updated Oct 15, 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-aws-6.5 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-6.5 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-gcp-6.5 Package: linux-gke Package: linux-gke-4.15 Package: linux-gke-5.15 Package: linux-gke-5.4 Package: linux-gkeop Package: linux-gkeop-5.15 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-6.5 Package: linux-hwe-edge Package: linux-intel-5.13 Package: linux-intel-iot-realtime Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2 Package: linux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5 Package: linux-nvidia-6.2 Package: linux-nvidia-6.5 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-oem-6.5 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-oracle-6.5 Package: linux-raspi-realtime Package: linux-raspi2 Package: linux-realtime Package: linux-riscv Package: linux-riscv-5.11 Package: linux-riscv-5.19 Package: linux-riscv-5.8 Package: linux-riscv-6.5 Package: linux-starfive-5.19 Package: linux-starfive-6.2 Package: linux-starfive-6.5 Platform: Linux Ecosystem: Debian Ecosystem: Ubuntu

Description

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

KVM: Reject attempts to consume or refresh inactive gfn_to_pfn_cache

Reject kvm_gpc_check() and kvm_gpc_refresh() if the cache is inactive.
Not checking the active flag during refresh is particularly egregious, as
KVM can end up with a valid, inactive cache, which can lead to a variety
of use-after-free bugs, e.g. consuming a NULL kernel pointer or missing
an mmu_notifier invalidation due to the cache not being on the list of
gfns to invalidate.

Note, "active" needs to be set if and only if the cache is on the list
of caches, i.e. is reachable via mmu_notifier events. If a relevant
mmu_notifier event occurs while the cache is "active" but not on the
list, KVM will not acquire the cache's lock and so will not serailize
the mmu_notifier event with active users and/or kvm_gpc_refresh().

A race between KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO and KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND
can be exploited to trigger the bug.

1. Deactivate shinfo cache:

kvm_xen_hvm_set_attr
case KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO
kvm_gpc_deactivate
kvm_gpc_unmap
gpc->valid = false
gpc->khva = NULL
gpc->active = false

Result: active = false, valid = false

2. Cause cache refresh:

kvm_arch_vm_ioctl
case KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND
kvm_xen_hvm_evtchn_send
kvm_xen_set_evtchn
kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast
kvm_gpc_check
return -EWOULDBLOCK because !gpc->valid
kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast
return -EWOULDBLOCK
kvm_gpc_refresh
hva_to_pfn_retry
gpc->valid = true
gpc->khva = not NULL

Result: active = false, valid = true

3. Race ioctl KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND against ioctl
KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO:

kvm_arch_vm_ioctl
case KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND
kvm_xen_hvm_evtchn_send
kvm_xen_set_evtchn
kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast
read_lock gpc->lock
kvm_xen_hvm_set_attr case
KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO
mutex_lock kvm->lock
kvm_xen_shared_info_init
kvm_gpc_activate
gpc->khva = NULL
kvm_gpc_check
[ Check passes because gpc->valid is
still true, even though gpc->khva
is already NULL. ]
shinfo = gpc->khva
pending_bits = shinfo->evtchn_pending
CRASH: test_and_set_bit(..., pending_bits)

Affected products

VendorProductAffectedFixed
Linux Linux 5.17 6.0.8

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 6.0.8-1 —
Debian 13 linux 6.0.8-1 —
Debian 12 linux 6.0.8-1 —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS linux-realtime +1 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS linux-riscv +32 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 20.04 LTS linux-gke +28 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS linux-gcp +14 No fix yet —
Ubuntu 16.04 LTS linux-hwe-edge No fix yet —
ReleasePackageFixed inAdvisory
RHEL 9 bpftool 7.2.0-362.8.1.el9_3 RHSA-2023:6583
RHEL 9 rv +64 5.14.0-362.8.1.el9_3 RHSA-2023:6583

Advisories 2

References