Local denial of service via KVM WARN
Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 11, 2026
Improper nested-state handling in Linux KVM 5.13 through 5.18 allows local users to trigger a kernel warning via crafted VM state. The nested VM-exit paths assume KVM_REQ_TRIPLE_FAULT cannot escape L2, but a userspace-injected machine check with L2 active and CR4.MCE=0 violates that assumption and reaches WARN(). The default result is a logged warning; hosts configured with panic_on_warn convert it into a kernel panic and service interruption.
Summary
What happened
Improper nested-state handling in Linux KVM 5.13 through 5.18 allows local users to trigger a kernel warning via crafted VM state. The nested VM-exit paths assume KVM_REQ_TRIPLE_FAULT cannot escape L2, but a userspace-injected machine check with L2 active and CR4.MCE=0 violates that assumption and reaches WARN(). The default result is a logged warning; hosts configured with panic_on_warn convert it into a kernel panic and service interruption.
The record
- CVE
- CVE-2022-49559
- Published
- Feb 26, 2025
- Updated
- May 11, 2026
- Vendor
- The Linux Kernel Organization
- Product
- Linux
- Classifications
- T1499.004
- Attack vector
- local
- Privileges
- authenticated
Timeline
How it unfolded
- Feb 26, 2025CVE 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?
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- Affected versionversion=5.13
- Affected versionversion=cb6a32c2b8777ad31a02e585584d869251a790e3 <45846661d10422ce9e22da21f8277540b29eca22
- Affected versionversion=cb6a32c2b8777ad31a02e585584d869251a790e3 <7de373c9b48229e428ecdb8fbde269c5a8617fd2
- Affected versionversion=cb6a32c2b8777ad31a02e585584d869251a790e3 <8d3a2aa0976f57320ba89baf9d57fb158dd0cd0d
- Affected versionversion=cb6a32c2b8777ad31a02e585584d869251a790e3 <f476a59d5c86c02a79eef893c6da86735f2977ac
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What is affected?
Published CVSS scores
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Attacks
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Weakness, pattern, technique
Public exploit references
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Technologies
Your stack
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Your stack
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