SEV guest boot crash via unencrypted EFI mapping
Published May 21, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper memory mapping in the Linux kernel allows attackers to crash SEV guests during boot under specific EFI runtime conditions. The __ioremap_check_other() function fails to mark EFI boot-services data preserved with EFI_MEMORY_RUNTIME for encrypted mapping, so an SEV guest reads reserved memory with the wrong encryption state. The failure requires an x86 SEV guest and a driver that reserves EFI boot-services data for runtime use; the documented consequence is a boot-time general protection fault.
Summary
What happened
Improper memory mapping in the Linux kernel allows attackers to crash SEV guests during boot under specific EFI runtime conditions. The __ioremap_check_other() function fails to mark EFI boot-services data preserved with EFI_MEMORY_RUNTIME for encrypted mapping, so an SEV guest reads reserved memory with the wrong encryption state. The failure requires an x86 SEV guest and a driver that reserves EFI boot-services data for runtime use; the documented consequence is a boot-time general protection fault.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47228
- Published
- May 21, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- unauthenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- May 21, 2024CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
- May 11, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.
Exploitability
Present is not the same as exploitable
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Is a vulnerable build present?
Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.
- Affected versionversion=5.10
- Affected versionversion=58c909022a5a56cd1d9e89c8c5461fd1f6a27bb5 <208bb686e7fa7fff16e8fa78ff0db34aa9acdbd7
- Affected versionversion=58c909022a5a56cd1d9e89c8c5461fd1f6a27bb5 <8d651ee9c71bb12fc0c8eb2786b66cbe5aa3e43b
- Affected versionversion=58c909022a5a56cd1d9e89c8c5461fd1f6a27bb5 <b7a05aba39f733ec337c5b952e112dd2dc4fc404
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
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Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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