CVE-2024-53135

KVM: VMX: Bury Intel PT virtualization (guest/host mode) behind CONFIG_BROKEN

MEDIUM
6.5
CVSS Score
Published: December 4, 2024 at 02:20 PM UTC
Updated: October 15, 2026 at 10:18 PM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorLinux Kernel

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Severity
MEDIUM6.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: VMX: Bury Intel PT virtualization (guest/host mode) behind CONFIG_BROKEN Hide KVM's pt_mode module param behind CONFIG_BROKEN, i.e. disable support for virtualizing Intel PT via guest/host mode unless BROKEN=y. There are myriad bugs in the implementation, some of which are fatal to the guest, and others which put the stability and health of the host at risk. For guest fatalities, the most glaring issue is that KVM fails to ensure tracing is disabled, and *stays* disabled prior to VM-Enter, which is necessary as hardware disallows loading (the guest's) RTIT_CTL if tracing is enabled (enforced via a VMX consistency check). Per the SDM: If the logical processor is operating with Intel PT enabled (if IA32_RTIT_CTL.TraceEn = 1) at the time of VM entry, the "load IA32_RTIT_CTL" VM-entry control must be 0. On the host side, KVM doesn't validate the guest CPUID configuration provided by userspace, and even worse, uses the guest configuration to decide what MSRs to save/load at VM-Enter and VM-Exit. E.g. configuring guest CPUID to enumerate more address ranges than are supported in hardware will result in KVM trying to passthrough, save, and load non-existent MSRs, which generates a variety of WARNs, ToPA ERRORs in the host, a potential deadlock, etc.

Affected

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

5.0 ≤ v < 6.1.1196.2 ≤ v < 6.6.636.7 ≤ v < 6.11.106.126.12 rc16.12 rc26.12 rc36.12 rc46.12 rc56.12 rc66.12 rc7f99e3daf94ff35dd4a878d32ff66e1fd35223ad6
Vendor states this is fixed in aa0d42cacf093a6fcca872edc954f6f812926a17 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in b8a1d572478b6f239061ee9578b2451bf2f021c2 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in b91bb0ce5cd7005b376eac690ec664c1b56372ec (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in c3742319d021f5aa3a0a8c828485fee14753f6de (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in d28b059ee4779b5102c5da6e929762520510e406 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in d4b42f926adcce4e5ec193c714afd9d37bba8e5b (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in e6716f4230a8784957273ddd27326264b27b9313 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.0 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.10.231 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.15.174 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 5.4.287 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.119 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.11.10 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.63 (unaffected)

References (9)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatableTotal impact

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

CVSS

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

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfo

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