Описание
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SEV: Require in-GHCB scratch area if GHCB v2+ is in use As per the GHCB spec, when using GHCB v2+ require the software scratch area to reside in the GHCB's shared buffer. Note, things like Page State Change (PSC) requests rely on this behavior, as the guest can't provide a length when making the request, i.e. the size of the guest payload is bounded by the size of the shared buffer. Failure to force usage of the GHCB, and a slew of other flaws, lets a malicious SNP guest corrupt host kernel heap memory, and leak host heap layout information. setup_vmgexit_scratch() allocates a buffer via kvzalloc(exit_info_2), where exit_info_2 is guest-controlled. With exit_info_2=24, this yields a 24-byte allocation in kmalloc-cg-32 (32-byte slab objects). The buffer holds an 8-byte psc_hdr followed by 8-byte psc_entry structs, so only entries[0] and entries[1] are in-bounds. snp_begin_psc() validates end_entry against VMGEXIT_PSC_MAX_COUNT (253) but NOT against the actual buffer size: idx_end = hdr->end_entry; if (idx_end >= VMGEXIT_PSC_MAX_COUNT) { // checks 253, not buffer snp_complete_psc(svm, ...); return 1; } for (idx = idx_start; idx <= idx_end; idx++) { entry_start = entries[idx]; // OOB when idx >= 2 The guest sets end_entry=10+, causing the host to iterate entries[2+] which are OOB into adjacent slab objects. For each OOB entry:
- The host reads 8 bytes (OOB READ / info leak oracle)
- If the data passes PSC validation, __snp_complete_one_psc() writes cur_page = 1 or 512 into the entry (OOB WRITE, sev.c:3806)
- If validation fails, the error response reveals whether adjacent memory is zero vs non-zero (information disclosure to guest) The guest controls allocation size (exit_info_2), entry range (cur_entry/end_entry), and can fire unlimited VMGEXITs to repeatedly hit different slab positions. By exploiting the variety of bugs, a malicious SEV-SNP guest can:
- OOB read adjacent kmalloc-cg-32 objects (heap layout disclosure)
- OOB write cur_page bits into adjacent objects (heap corruption)
- Trigger use-after-free conditions across VMGEXITs
E.g. with KASAN enabled, a single insmod of the PoC guest module
produces 73 KASAN reports:
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in snp_begin_psc+0x126/0x890
Read of size 8 at addr ffff888219ffb5e0 by task qemu-system-x86/2199
BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in snp_begin_psc+0x468/0x890
Write of size 8 at addr ffff888351566648 by task qemu-system-x86/2199
The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888XXXXXXXXX
which belongs to the cache kmalloc-cg-32 of size 32
The buggy address is located N bytes to the right of
allocated 32-byte region [ffff888XXXXXXXXX, ffff888XXXXXXXXX)
Breakdown:
62 slab-out-of-bounds (reads + writes past allocation)
7 slab-use-after-free
4 use-after-free
All credit to Stan for the wonderful description and reproducer!
[sean: write changelog]
A flaw was found in the Linux kernel's KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) subsystem, specifically within the SEV (Secure Encrypted Virtualization) feature. A malicious guest operating system utilizing SEV-SNP (Secure Nested Paging) can exploit an out-of-bounds write vulnerability due to improper validation of guest-controlled input during Guest-Host Communication Block (GHCB) operations. This allows the guest to read and write beyond allocated memory regions, leading to host kernel heap memory corruption and disclosure of sensitive heap layout information. This could enable a malicious guest to escalate privileges on the host system.
Отчет
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7 are not affected by this flaw, as they did not include support for KVM AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization (SEV). AMD SEV is currently provided as a Technology Preview in RHEL 8. AMD SEV-SNP (Secure Nested Paging) is currently provided as a Technology Preview in RHEL 9 and 10. Therefore, SEV-SNP is not supported for production use across all versions of Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
Меры по смягчению последствий
If confidential VMs are not in use, this vulnerability can be mitigated by disabling SEV-SNP support on the host, removing the attack surface entirely. Create a file in /etc/modprobe.d/ with a descriptive name, such as cve-2026-53360-mitigation.conf. In that file, disable SEV-SNP for the kvm_amd kernel module:
To validate, read the file /sys/module/kvm_amd/parameters/sev_snp. This file should read N to indicate that the feature is disabled.
If SEV-SNP cannot be disabled, run SEV-SNP hosts on isolated environments and restrict the ability to create SNP-enabled VMs to trusted tenants/administrators only.
Затронутые пакеты
| Платформа | Пакет | Состояние | Рекомендация | Релиз |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10 | kernel | Affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | kernel | Not affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel | Not affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | kernel-rt | Not affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel | Not affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | kernel-rt | Not affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | kernel | Affected | ||
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | kernel-rt | Affected |
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Дополнительная информация
Статус:
EPSS
7 High
CVSS3
Связанные уязвимости
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SEV: Require in-GHCB scratch area if GHCB v2+ is in use As per the GHCB spec, when using GHCB v2+ require the software scratch area to reside in the GHCB's shared buffer. Note, things like Page State Change (PSC) requests _rely_ on this behavior, as the guest can't provide a length when making the request, i.e. the size of the guest payload is bounded by the size of the shared buffer. Failure to force usage of the GHCB, and a slew of other flaws, lets a malicious SNP guest corrupt host kernel heap memory, and leak host heap layout information. setup_vmgexit_scratch() allocates a buffer via kvzalloc(exit_info_2), where exit_info_2 is guest-controlled. With exit_info_2=24, this yields a 24-byte allocation in kmalloc-cg-32 (32-byte slab objects). The buffer holds an 8-byte psc_hdr followed by 8-byte psc_entry structs, so only entries[0] and entries[1] are in-bounds. snp_begin_psc() validates end_entry against VMG...
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SEV: Require in-GHCB scratch area if GHCB v2+ is in use As per the GHCB spec, when using GHCB v2+ require the software scratch area to reside in the GHCB's shared buffer. Note, things like Page State Change (PSC) requests _rely_ on this behavior, as the guest can't provide a length when making the request, i.e. the size of the guest payload is bounded by the size of the shared buffer. Failure to force usage of the GHCB, and a slew of other flaws, lets a malicious SNP guest corrupt host kernel heap memory, and leak host heap layout information. setup_vmgexit_scratch() allocates a buffer via kvzalloc(exit_info_2), where exit_info_2 is guest-controlled. With exit_info_2=24, this yields a 24-byte allocation in kmalloc-cg-32 (32-byte slab objects). The buffer holds an 8-byte psc_hdr followed by 8-byte psc_entry structs, so only entries[0] and entries[1] are in-bounds. snp_begin_psc() validates end_entry against V
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: K ...
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SEV: Require in-GHCB scratch area if GHCB v2+ is in use As per the GHCB spec, when using GHCB v2+ require the software scratch area to reside in the GHCB's shared buffer. Note, things like Page State Change (PSC) requests _rely_ on this behavior, as the guest can't provide a length when making the request, i.e. the size of the guest payload is bounded by the size of the shared buffer. Failure to force usage of the GHCB, and a slew of other flaws, lets a malicious SNP guest corrupt host kernel heap memory, and leak host heap layout information. setup_vmgexit_scratch() allocates a buffer via kvzalloc(exit_info_2), where exit_info_2 is guest-controlled. With exit_info_2=24, this yields a 24-byte allocation in kmalloc-cg-32 (32-byte slab objects). The buffer holds an 8-byte psc_hdr followed by 8-byte psc_entry structs, so only entries[0] and entries[1] are in-bounds. snp_begin_psc() validates end_entry agains...
Уязвимость функции setup_vmgexit_scratch() подсистемы KVM ядра операционных систем Linux, позволяющая нарушителю вызвать отказ в обслуживании
EPSS
7 High
CVSS3