CVE-2022-49955

powerpc/rtas: Fix RTAS MSR[HV] handling for Cell

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: June 18, 2025 at 11:00 AM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 05:19 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/rtas: Fix RTAS MSR[HV] handling for Cell The semi-recent changes to MSR handling when entering RTAS (firmware) cause crashes on IBM Cell machines. An example trace: kernel tried to execute user page (2fff01a8) - exploit attempt? (uid: 0) BUG: Unable to handle kernel instruction fetch Faulting instruction address: 0x2fff01a8 Oops: Kernel access of bad area, sig: 11 [#1] BE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=4 NUMA Cell Modules linked in: CPU: 0 PID: 0 Comm: swapper/0 Tainted: G W 6.0.0-rc2-00433-gede0a8d3307a #207 NIP: 000000002fff01a8 LR: 0000000000032608 CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c0000000015236b0 TRAP: 0400 Tainted: G W (6.0.0-rc2-00433-gede0a8d3307a) MSR: 0000000008001002 <ME,RI> CR: 00000000 XER: 20000000 ... NIP 0x2fff01a8 LR 0x32608 Call Trace: 0xc00000000143c5f8 (unreliable) .rtas_call+0x224/0x320 .rtas_get_boot_time+0x70/0x150 .read_persistent_clock64+0x114/0x140 .read_persistent_wall_and_boot_offset+0x24/0x80 .timekeeping_init+0x40/0x29c .start_kernel+0x674/0x8f0 start_here_common+0x1c/0x50 Unlike PAPR platforms where RTAS is only used in guests, on the IBM Cell machines Linux runs with MSR[HV] set but also uses RTAS, provided by SLOF. Fix it by copying the MSR[HV] bit from the MSR value we've just read using mfmsr into the value used for RTAS. It seems like we could also fix it using an #ifdef CELL to set MSR[HV], but that doesn't work because it's possible to build a single kernel image that runs on both Cell native and pseries.

Affected

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

v ≥ 5.15.46v ≥ 5.17.14v ≥ 5.18.35.15.46 ≤ v < 5.165.17.14 ≤ v < 5.185.18.3 ≤ v < 5.195.18.3 ≤ v < 5.19.85.19 ≤ v < 5.19.85.19 ≤ v < 6.05.15.465.17.145.18.35.195ca40fcf0da0ce2b5bc44e7d8b036535955f2e3d5f4367448f6817c8a0e94dc9736ed84fa8eee4a36.0 rc16.0 rc26.0 rc3b6b1c3ce06ca438eb24e0f45bf0e63ecad0369f5c9c41f0273826a13ac93124e66a4ff45df281ba0
Vendor states this is fixed in 8b08d4f97233d8e58fff2fd9d5f86397a49733c5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 91926d8b7e71aaf5f84f0cf208fc5a8b7a761050 (fixed)
Affected range stops below 5.16, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Affected range stops below 5.18, so it looks safe — our inference, not a vendor statement
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.19 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.19.8 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.0 (unaffected)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (2)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8b08d4f97233d8e58fff2fd9d5f86397a49733c5
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/91926d8b7e71aaf5f84f0cf208fc5a8b7a761050

CVSS

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusANALYZED
CWE
CWE-476

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