CVE-2025-37936

perf/x86/intel: KVM: Mask PEBS_ENABLE loaded for guest with vCPU's value.

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: May 20, 2025 at 03:22 PM UTC
Updated: October 15, 2026 at 10:18 PM UTC
2 products affected across 2 vendorsLinux KernelDebian Linux

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.2%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/x86/intel: KVM: Mask PEBS_ENABLE loaded for guest with vCPU's value. When generating the MSR_IA32_PEBS_ENABLE value that will be loaded on VM-Entry to a KVM guest, mask the value with the vCPU's desired PEBS_ENABLE value. Consulting only the host kernel's host vs. guest masks results in running the guest with PEBS enabled even when the guest doesn't want to use PEBS. Because KVM uses perf events to proxy the guest virtual PMU, simply looking at exclude_host can't differentiate between events created by host userspace, and events created by KVM on behalf of the guest. Running the guest with PEBS unexpectedly enabled typically manifests as crashes due to a near-infinite stream of #PFs. E.g. if the guest hasn't written MSR_IA32_DS_AREA, the CPU will hit page faults on address '0' when trying to record PEBS events. The issue is most easily reproduced by running `perf kvm top` from before commit 7b100989b4f6 ("perf evlist: Remove __evlist__add_default") (after which, `perf kvm top` effectively stopped using PEBS). The userspace side of perf creates a guest-only PEBS event, which intel_guest_get_msrs() misconstrues a guest-*owned* PEBS event. Arguably, this is a userspace bug, as enabling PEBS on guest-only events simply cannot work, and userspace can kill VMs in many other ways (there is no danger to the host). However, even if this is considered to be bad userspace behavior, there's zero downside to perf/KVM restricting PEBS to guest-owned events. Note, commit 854250329c02 ("KVM: x86/pmu: Disable guest PEBS temporarily in two rare situations") fixed the case where host userspace is profiling KVM *and* userspace, but missed the case where userspace is profiling only KVM.

Affected

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

6.0 ≤ v < 6.1.1386.13 ≤ v < 6.14.66.2 ≤ v < 6.6.906.7 ≤ v < 6.12.286.156.15 rc16.15 rc26.15 rc36.15 rc4c59a1f106f5cd4843c097069ff1bb2ad72103a67
Vendor states this is fixed in 160153cf9e4aa875ad086cc094ce34aac8e13d63 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 34b6fa11431aef71045ae5a00d90a7d630597eda (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 44ee0afc9d1e7a7c1932698de01362ed80cfc4b5 (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 58f6217e5d0132a9f14e401e62796916aa055c1b (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 86aa62895fc2fb7ab09d7ca40fae8ad09841f66b (fixed)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.0 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.1.138 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.12.28 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.14.6 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.15 (unaffected)
Vendor states this is fixed in 6.6.90 (unaffected)

References (6)

Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/160153cf9e4aa875ad086cc094ce34aac8e13d63
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/34b6fa11431aef71045ae5a00d90a7d630597eda
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/44ee0afc9d1e7a7c1932698de01362ed80cfc4b5
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/58f6217e5d0132a9f14e401e62796916aa055c1b
Patch
Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/86aa62895fc2fb7ab09d7ca40fae8ad09841f66b
Third Party Advisory
Source: af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/08/msg00010.html

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial 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
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
NONE
Integrity
NONE
Availability
HIGH
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfo

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