CVE-2024-53196: KVM: arm64: Don't retire aborted MMIO instruction

First published: Fri Dec 27 2024(Updated: )

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: arm64: Don't retire aborted MMIO instruction Returning an abort to the guest for an unsupported MMIO access is a documented feature of the KVM UAPI. Nevertheless, it's clear that this plumbing has seen limited testing, since userspace can trivially cause a WARN in the MMIO return: WARNING: CPU: 0 PID: 30558 at arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h:536 kvm_handle_mmio_return+0x46c/0x5c4 arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h:536 Call trace: kvm_handle_mmio_return+0x46c/0x5c4 arch/arm64/include/asm/kvm_emulate.h:536 kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x98/0x15b4 arch/arm64/kvm/arm.c:1133 kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x75c/0xa78 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4487 __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:893 [inline] __arm64_sys_ioctl+0x14c/0x1c8 fs/ioctl.c:893 __invoke_syscall arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:35 [inline] invoke_syscall+0x98/0x2b8 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:49 el0_svc_common+0x1e0/0x23c arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:132 do_el0_svc+0x48/0x58 arch/arm64/kernel/syscall.c:151 el0_svc+0x38/0x68 arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:712 el0t_64_sync_handler+0x90/0xfc arch/arm64/kernel/entry-common.c:730 el0t_64_sync+0x190/0x194 arch/arm64/kernel/entry.S:598 The splat is complaining that KVM is advancing PC while an exception is pending, i.e. that KVM is retiring the MMIO instruction despite a pending synchronous external abort. Womp womp. Fix the glaring UAPI bug by skipping over all the MMIO emulation in case there is a pending synchronous exception. Note that while userspace is capable of pending an asynchronous exception (SError, IRQ, or FIQ), it is still safe to retire the MMIO instruction in this case as (1) they are by definition asynchronous, and (2) KVM relies on hardware support for pending/delivering these exceptions instead of the software state machine for advancing PC.

Credit: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Never miss a vulnerability like this again

Sign up to SecAlerts for real-time vulnerability data matched to your software, aggregated from hundreds of sources.

Read MoreStart Free Trial

• agent/severity
• agent/title
• agent/type
• agent/first-publish-date
• collector/nvd-api
• source/NVD
• agent/author
• collector/mitre-cve
• source/MITRE
• agent/last-modified-date
• agent/guess-ai
• agent/software-canonical-lookup
• agent/software-canonical-lookup-request
• collector/usn-cve
• source/Ubuntu
• collector/nvd-cve
• agent/references
• agent/source
• agent/softwarecombine
• agent/description
• agent/tags
• agent/event
• collector/security-tracker-debian
• source/Debian
• vendor/linux
• canonical/linux kernel
• package-manager/debian