Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
RISC-V: KVM: Don't zero-out PMU snapshot area before freeing data
With the latest Linux-6.11-rc3, the below NULL pointer crash is observed
when SBI PMU snapshot is enabled for the guest and the guest is forcefully
powered-off.
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 0000000000000508
Oops [#1]
Modules linked in: kvm
CPU: 0 UID: 0 PID: 61 Comm: term-poll Not tainted 6.11.0-rc3-00018-g44d7178dd77a #3
Hardware name: riscv-virtio,qemu (DT)
epc : __kvm_write_guest_page+0x94/0xa6 [kvm]
ra : __kvm_write_guest_page+0x54/0xa6 [kvm]
epc : ffffffff01590e98 ra : ffffffff01590e58 sp : ffff8f80001f39b0
gp : ffffffff81512a60 tp : ffffaf80024872c0 t0 : ffffaf800247e000
t1 : 00000000000007e0 t2 : 0000000000000000 s0 : ffff8f80001f39f0
s1 : 00007fff89ac4000 a0 : ffffffff015dd7e8 a1 : 0000000000000086
a2 : 0000000000000000 a3 : ffffaf8000000000 a4 : ffffaf80024882c0
a5 : 0000000000000000 a6 : ffffaf800328d780 a7 : 00000000000001cc
s2 : ffffaf800197bd00 s3 : 00000000000828c4 s4 : ffffaf800248c000
s5 : ffffaf800247d000 s6 : 0000000000001000 s7 : 0000000000001000
s8 : 0000000000000000 s9 : 00007fff861fd500 s10: 0000000000000001
s11: 0000000000800000 t3 : 00000000000004d3 t4 : 00000000000004d3
t5 : ffffffff814126e0 t6 : ffffffff81412700
status: 0000000200000120 badaddr: 0000000000000508 cause: 000000000000000d
[<ffffffff01590e98>] __kvm_write_guest_page+0x94/0xa6 [kvm]
[<ffffffff015943a6>] kvm_vcpu_write_guest+0x56/0x90 [kvm]
[<ffffffff015a175c>] kvm_pmu_clear_snapshot_area+0x42/0x7e [kvm]
[<ffffffff015a1972>] kvm_riscv_vcpu_pmu_deinit.part.0+0xe0/0x14e [kvm]
[<ffffffff015a2ad0>] kvm_riscv_vcpu_pmu_deinit+0x1a/0x24 [kvm]
[<ffffffff0159b344>] kvm_arch_vcpu_destroy+0x28/0x4c [kvm]
[<ffffffff0158e420>] kvm_destroy_vcpus+0x5a/0xda [kvm]
[<ffffffff0159930c>] kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x14/0x28 [kvm]
[<ffffffff01593260>] kvm_destroy_vm+0x168/0x2a0 [kvm]
[<ffffffff015933d4>] kvm_put_kvm+0x3c/0x58 [kvm]
[<ffffffff01593412>] kvm_vm_release+0x22/0x2e [kvm]
Clearly, the kvm_vcpu_write_guest() function is crashing because it is
being called from kvm_pmu_clear_snapshot_area() upon guest tear down.
To address the above issue, simplify the kvm_pmu_clear_snapshot_area() to
not zero-out PMU snapshot area from kvm_pmu_clear_snapshot_area() because
the guest is anyway being tore down.
The kvm_pmu_clear_snapshot_area() is also called when guest changes
PMU snapshot area of a VCPU but even in this case the previous PMU
snaphsot area must not be zeroed-out because the guest might have
reclaimed the pervious PMU snapshot area for some other purpose.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 6.10 | 6.10.13 |
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.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 6.11.2-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 6.11.2-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-oem-6.11 | 6.11.0-1015.15 | USN-7310-1 |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | linux-raspi-realtime | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | linux-riscv +32 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | linux-gke +26 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | linux-gcp +13 | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | linux-hwe-edge | No fix yet | — |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kernel-source | 6.11.8-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2024:14500-1 |
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | kernel-source-longterm | 6.12.11-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2025:14705-1 |
Advisories 4
- WID-SEC-2024-3251 Linux Kernel: Mehrere Schwachstellen ermöglichen Denial of Service BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Nov 11, 2026
- USN-7310-1 linux-oem-6.11 vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Nov 3, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2025:14705-1 kernel-devel-longterm-6.12.11-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:14500-1 kernel-devel-6.11.8-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026