KernelScan.io

HIGH

kvm PDPTR Locking

CVE-2026-43214

CVSS 7.8 / 10.0 NVD

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

KernelScan AI2.3LOW

01

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Add SRCU protection for reading PDPTRs in __get_sregs2() Add SRCU read-side protection when reading PDPTR registers in __get_sregs2(). Reading PDPTRs may trigger access to guest memory: kvm_pdptr_read() -> svm_cache_reg() -> load_pdptrs() -> kvm_vcpu_read_guest_page() -> kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot() kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot() dereferences memslots via __kvm_memslots(), which uses srcu_dereference_check() and requires either kvm->srcu or kvm->slots_lock to be held. Currently only vcpu->mutex is held, triggering lockdep warning: ============================= WARNING: suspicious RCU usage in kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot 6.12.59+ #3 Not tainted include/linux/kvm_host.h:1062 suspicious rcu_dereference_check() usage! other info that might help us debug this: rcu_scheduler_active = 2, debug_locks = 1 1 lock held by syz.5.1717/15100: #0: ff1100002f4b00b0 (&vcpu->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x1d5/0x1590 Call Trace: <TASK> __dump_stack lib/dump_stack.c:94 [inline] dump_stack_lvl+0xf0/0x120 lib/dump_stack.c:120 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x1e3/0x270 kernel/locking/lockdep.c:6824 __kvm_memslots include/linux/kvm_host.h:1062 [inline] __kvm_memslots include/linux/kvm_host.h:1059 [inline] kvm_vcpu_memslots include/linux/kvm_host.h:1076 [inline] kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot+0x518/0x5e0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:2617 kvm_vcpu_read_guest_page+0x27/0x50 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:3302 load_pdptrs+0xff/0x4b0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:1065 svm_cache_reg+0x1c9/0x230 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:1688 kvm_pdptr_read arch/x86/kvm/kvm_cache_regs.h:141 [inline] __get_sregs2 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:11784 [inline] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl+0x3e20/0x4aa0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:6279 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x856/0x1590 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4663 vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:907 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:893 [inline] __x64_sys_ioctl+0x18b/0x210 fs/ioctl.c:893 do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:52 [inline] do_syscall_64+0xbd/0x1d0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:83 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x77/0x7f Found by Linux Verification Center (linuxtesting.org) with Syzkaller.

02

Engine v0.2.0

Risk summary

A locking violation in KVM's PDPTR register reading could cause system instability through lockdep warnings. This affects systems running KVM virtual machines where privileged users access guest register state. The impact is limited to potential system degradation rather than security compromise.

Affectedarch/x86/kvm/x86.c (KVM x86)

Vulnerability analysis

The vulnerability occurs in __get_sregs2() when reading PDPTR registers without proper SRCU protection. The code path accesses guest memory slots through kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot() which requires SRCU locking, but only vcpu->mutex was held. This triggers lockdep warnings and violates RCU synchronization requirements. The fix adds kvm_vcpu_srcu_read_lock/unlock around the PDPTR reading loop to ensure proper memory slot access synchronization. Attack surface is limited to local KVM ioctl access requiring VM management privileges.

03

BranchFixed inPatch commit
6.16.1.165f621ca24f9f4
6.126.12.759f2bfea51151
6.186.18.1657536ff0a6bd
6.196.19.6b33f8d816950
6.66.6.128708e20c66b27
mainline7.095d848dc7e63