(In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: K ...)

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Consume the locked rmap value in the lockless rmap walk __kvm_rmap_lock() deliberately elides the rmap lock when it observes an empty rmap. In that case kvm_rmap_lock_readonly() also re-enables preemption and returns zero, so the caller holds neither the rmap lock nor a preemption reference. The elision documents the invariant it relies on: * Elide the lock if the rmap is empty, as lockless walkers (read-only * mode) don't need to (and can't) walk an empty rmap, nor can they add * entries to the rmap. I.e. the only paths that process empty rmaps * do so while holding mmu_lock for write, and are mutually exclusive. kvm_rmap_age_gfn_range() ignores the returned value and unconditionally enters for_each_rmap_spte_lockless(). The iterator started with rmap_get_first(), which re-reads rmap_head->val rather than using the value returned by the lock. If a writer populates the rmap between the lo

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: K ...

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Consume the locked rmap value in the lockless rmap walk __kvm_rmap_lock() deliberately elides the rmap lock when it observes an empty rmap. In that case kvm_rmap_lock_readonly() also re-enables preemption and returns zero, so the caller holds neither the rmap lock nor a preemption reference. The elision documents the invariant it relies on: * Elide the lock if the rmap is empty, as lockless walkers (read-only * mode) don't need to (and can't) walk an empty rmap, nor can they add * entries to the rmap. I.e. the only paths that process empty rmaps * do so while holding mmu_lock for write, and are mutually exclusive. kvm_rmap_age_gfn_range() ignores the returned value and unconditionally enters for_each_rmap_spte_lockless(). The iterator started with rmap_get_first(), which re-reads rmap_head->val rather than using the value returned by the lock. If a writer populates the rmap between the...