CVE-2021-47230

KVM: x86: Immediately reset the MMU context when the SMM flag is cleared

MEDIUM
6.6
CVSS Score
Published: May 21, 2024 at 02:19 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 04:16 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
MEDIUM6.6
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Immediately reset the MMU context when the SMM flag is cleared Immediately reset the MMU context when the vCPU's SMM flag is cleared so that the SMM flag in the MMU role is always synchronized with the vCPU's flag. If RSM fails (which isn't correctly emulated), KVM will bail without calling post_leave_smm() and leave the MMU in a bad state. The bad MMU role can lead to a NULL pointer dereference when grabbing a shadow page's rmap for a page fault as the initial lookups for the gfn will happen with the vCPU's SMM flag (=0), whereas the rmap lookup will use the shadow page's SMM flag, which comes from the MMU (=1). SMM has an entirely different set of memslots, and so the initial lookup can find a memslot (SMM=0) and then explode on the rmap memslot lookup (SMM=1). general protection fault, probably for non-canonical address 0xdffffc0000000000: 0000 [#1] PREEMPT SMP KASAN KASAN: null-ptr-deref in range [0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000000007] CPU: 1 PID: 8410 Comm: syz-executor382 Not tainted 5.13.0-rc5-syzkaller #0 Hardware name: Google Google Compute Engine/Google Compute Engine, BIOS Google 01/01/2011 RIP: 0010:__gfn_to_rmap arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:935 [inline] RIP: 0010:gfn_to_rmap+0x2b0/0x4d0 arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:947 Code: <42> 80 3c 20 00 74 08 4c 89 ff e8 f1 79 a9 00 4c 89 fb 4d 8b 37 44 RSP: 0018:ffffc90000ffef98 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffff888015b9f414 RCX: ffff888019669c40 RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000001 RDI: 0000000000000001 RBP: 0000000000000001 R08: ffffffff811d9cdb R09: ffffed10065a6002 R10: ffffed10065a6002 R11: 0000000000000000 R12: dffffc0000000000 R13: 0000000000000003 R14: 0000000000000001 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 000000000124b300(0000) GS:ffff8880b9b00000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 0000000028e31000 CR4: 00000000001526e0 DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000fffe0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400 Call Trace: rmap_add arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:965 [inline] mmu_set_spte+0x862/0xe60 arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:2604 __direct_map arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:2862 [inline] direct_page_fault+0x1f74/0x2b70 arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:3769 kvm_mmu_do_page_fault arch/x86/kvm/mmu.h:124 [inline] kvm_mmu_page_fault+0x199/0x1440 arch/x86/kvm/mmu/mmu.c:5065 vmx_handle_exit+0x26/0x160 arch/x86/kvm/vmx/vmx.c:6122 vcpu_enter_guest+0x3bdd/0x9630 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:9428 vcpu_run+0x416/0xc20 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:9494 kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x4e8/0xa40 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:9722 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x70f/0xbb0 arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:3460 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:1069 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl+0xfb/0x170 fs/ioctl.c:1055 do_syscall_64+0x3f/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:47 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae RIP: 0033:0x440ce9

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

5.1 ≤ v < 5.10.465.1 ≤ v < 5.12.135.1 ≤ v < 5.135.1 ≤ v < 5.4.1285.11 ≤ v < 5.12.135.5 ≤ v < 5.10.465.13 rc15.13 rc25.13 rc35.13 rc45.13 rc55.13 rc69ec19493fb869ec19493fb86d6d5fbf9286b94ff21e56ef66376
Vendor states this is fixed in 669a8866e468 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 669a8866e468fd020d34eb00e08cb41d3774b71b (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 78fcb2c91adf (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 78fcb2c91adfec8ce3a2ba6b4d0dda89f2f4a7c6 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in cbb425f62df9 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in cbb425f62df9df7abee4b3f068f7ed6ffc3561e2 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in df9a40cfb3be (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in df9a40cfb3be2cbeb1c17bb67c59251ba16630f3 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.1 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.46 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.12.13 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.13 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.128 (unaffected)

References (4)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/669a8866e468fd020d34eb00e08cb41d3774b71b
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/78fcb2c91adfec8ce3a2ba6b4d0dda89f2f4a7c6
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/cbb425f62df9df7abee4b3f068f7ed6ffc3561e2
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/df9a40cfb3be2cbeb1c17bb67c59251ba16630f3

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

6.6MEDIUMCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
REQUIRED
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
HIGH
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-476

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