Guest-to-host memory disclosure via speculative address translation
Published May 21, 2024 · Updated May 11, 2026
Speculative address translation in Linux KVM allows guest OS users to form a gadget that reads VMM process memory via invalid guest addresses. __gfn_to_hva_memslot speculatively computes an out-of-bounds host virtual address after a bounds check on an invalid guest frame number is mispredicted, creating a data-dependent two-read gadget. ARM address masking exposes the reported path, while x86 LFENCE blocks it, and no exploitable case has been demonstrated.
Summary
What happened
Speculative address translation in Linux KVM allows guest OS users to form a gadget that reads VMM process memory via invalid guest addresses. __gfn_to_hva_memslot speculatively computes an out-of-bounds host virtual address after a bounds check on an invalid guest frame number is mispredicted, creating a data-dependent two-read gadget. ARM address masking exposes the reported path, while x86 LFENCE blocks it, and no exploitable case has been demonstrated.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2021-47277
- Published
- May 21, 2024
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- Unavailable
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
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=2.6.25
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <22b87fb17a28d37331bb9c1110737627b17f6781
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <3098b86390a6b9ea52657689f08410baf130ceff
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <361ce3b917aff93123e9e966d8608655c967f438
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <740621309b25bbf619b8a0ba5fd50a8e58989441
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <7af299b97734c7e7f465b42a2139ce4d77246975
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <bff1fbf0cf0712686f1df59a83fba6e31d2746a0
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <da27a83fd6cc7780fea190e1f5c19e87019da65c
- Affected versionversion=8a7ae055f3533b520401c170ac55e30628b34df5 <ed0e2a893092c7fcb4ff7ba74e5efce53a6f5940
What conditions does exploitation require?
What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.
Attacks
What attackers are doing with it
Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.
Weakness, pattern, technique
No sourced classifications are available.
Public exploit references
No public exploit references are available in this record.
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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