CVE-2025-23141
KVM: x86: Acquire SRCU in KVM_GET_MP_STATE to protect guest memory accesses
- State
- Published
- Severity
- 7.8 High
- Published
- May 1, 2025
- Updated
- Oct 15, 2026
- Reserved
- Jan 11, 2025
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86: Acquire SRCU in KVM_GET_MP_STATE to protect guest memory accesses
Acquire a lock on kvm->srcu when userspace is getting MP state to handle a rather extreme edge case where "accepting" APIC events, i.e. processing pending INIT or SIPI, can trigger accesses to guest memory. If the vCPU is in L2 with INIT *and* a TRIPLE_FAULT request pending, then getting MP state will trigger a nested VM-Exit by way of ->check_nested_events(), and emuating the nested VM-Exit can access guest memory.
The splat was originally hit by syzkaller on a Google-internal kernel, and reproduced on an upstream kernel by hacking the triple_fault_event_test selftest to stuff a pending INIT, store an MSR on VM-Exit (to generate a memory access on VMX), and do vcpu_mp_state_get() to trigger the scenario.
============================= WARNING: suspicious RCU usage 6.14.0-rc3-b112d356288b-vmx/pi_lockdep_false_pos-lock #3 Not tainted ----------------------------- include/linux/kvm_host.h:1058 suspicious rcu_dereference_check() usage!
other info that might help us debug this:
rcu_scheduler_active = 2, debug_locks = 1 1 lock held by triple_fault_ev/1256: #0: ffff88810df5a330 (&vcpu->mutex){+.+.}-{4:4}, at: kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x8b/0x9a0 [kvm]
stack backtrace: CPU: 11 UID: 1000 PID: 1256 Comm: triple_fault_ev Not tainted 6.14.0-rc3-b112d356288b-vmx #3 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x7f/0x90 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x144/0x190 kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot+0x156/0x180 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_read_guest+0x3e/0x90 [kvm] read_and_check_msr_entry+0x2e/0x180 [kvm_intel] __nested_vmx_vmexit+0x550/0xde0 [kvm_intel] kvm_check_nested_events+0x1b/0x30 [kvm] kvm_apic_accept_events+0x33/0x100 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_get_mpstate+0x30/0x1d0 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x33e/0x9a0 [kvm] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x8b/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x170 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 </TASK>
Scores
| CVSS | Score | Vector | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 7.8 High | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H | Linux |
Weaknesses
The record names no weakness.
Affected Products
| Product | Versions |
|---|---|
LinuxLinux |
|
LinuxLinux |
|
References
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/56d997b257075951a46663970cd350cd5e34c041
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/0357c8406dfa09430dd9858ebe813feb65524b6e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/8a3df0aa1087a89f5ce55f4aba816bfcb1ecf1be
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/7bc5c360375d28ba5ef6298b0d53e735c81d66a1
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/f5cbe725b7477b4cd677be1b86b4e08f90572997
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/592e040572f216d916f465047c8ce4a308fcca44
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ef01cac401f18647d62720cf773d7bb0541827da
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2025/05/msg00045.html
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