Improper Input Validation Affecting kernel-rt-modules-extra package, versions *


Severity

Recommended
low

Based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux security rating.

Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.05% (18th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-RHEL8-KERNELRTMODULESEXTRA-6336250
  • published29 Feb 2024
  • disclosed28 Feb 2024

Introduced: 28 Feb 2024

CVE-2021-46978  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-20  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

There is no fixed version for RHEL:8 kernel-rt-modules-extra.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream kernel-rt-modules-extra package and not the kernel-rt-modules-extra package as distributed by RHEL. See How to fix? for RHEL:8 relevant fixed versions and status.

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

KVM: nVMX: Always make an attempt to map eVMCS after migration

When enlightened VMCS is in use and nested state is migrated with vmx_get_nested_state()/vmx_set_nested_state() KVM can't map evmcs page right away: evmcs gpa is not 'struct kvm_vmx_nested_state_hdr' and we can't read it from VP assist page because userspace may decide to restore HV_X64_MSR_VP_ASSIST_PAGE after restoring nested state (and QEMU, for example, does exactly that). To make sure eVMCS is mapped /vmx_set_nested_state() raises KVM_REQ_GET_NESTED_STATE_PAGES request.

Commit f2c7ef3ba955 ("KVM: nSVM: cancel KVM_REQ_GET_NESTED_STATE_PAGES on nested vmexit") added KVM_REQ_GET_NESTED_STATE_PAGES clearing to nested_vmx_vmexit() to make sure MSR permission bitmap is not switched when an immediate exit from L2 to L1 happens right after migration (caused by a pending event, for example). Unfortunately, in the exact same situation we still need to have eVMCS mapped so nested_sync_vmcs12_to_shadow() reflects changes in VMCS12 to eVMCS.

As a band-aid, restore nested_get_evmcs_page() when clearing KVM_REQ_GET_NESTED_STATE_PAGES in nested_vmx_vmexit(). The 'fix' is far from being ideal as we can't easily propagate possible failures and even if we could, this is most likely already too late to do so. The whole 'KVM_REQ_GET_NESTED_STATE_PAGES' idea for mapping eVMCS after migration seems to be fragile as we diverge too much from the 'native' path when vmptr loading happens on vmx_set_nested_state().

CVSS Scores

version 3.1