CVE-2022-49610

Host service interrupt via pre-vmenter RSB underflow

Published Feb 26, 2025 · Updated May 23, 2026

Return stack buffer underflow in Linux kernel KVM VMX before 5.18.14 allows local users to cause a host service interrupt. Balanced returns between writing a guest's SPEC_CTRL value and entering that guest can exhaust the RSB if an NMI drives a sufficiently deep call stack. Reachability requires an Intel VMX KVM host and local guest access; upstream material does not specify whether the availability loss is a hang, crash, or reboot.

CVSS severity5.5
Medium
EPSS probability0.23%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Return stack buffer underflow in Linux kernel KVM VMX before 5.18.14 allows local users to cause a host service interrupt. Balanced returns between writing a guest's SPEC_CTRL value and entering that guest can exhaust the RSB if an NMI drives a sufficiently deep call stack. Reachability requires an Intel VMX KVM host and local guest access; upstream material does not specify whether the availability loss is a hang, crash, or reboot.

The record

CVE
CVE-2022-49610
Published
Feb 26, 2025
Updated
May 23, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
Unavailable
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Feb 26, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. May 23, 2026Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

Compare your product and version with the public record. A matching version still requires validation against your environment.

Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=3.16.57 <3.17
  2. Affected versionversion=4.16
  3. Affected versionversion=4.4.168 <4.5
  4. Affected versionversion=44491a23b73789c0a914af4ea55ccf8968adf90b
  5. Affected versionversion=d28b387fb74da95d69d2615732f50cceb38e9a4d <07853adc29a058c5fd143c14e5ac528448a72ed9
  6. Affected versionversion=d28b387fb74da95d69d2615732f50cceb38e9a4d <afd743f6dde87296c6f3414706964c491bb85862
  7. Affected versionversion=fc6aae9f407810cb153a9133c28735871f9f0a16

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=3.16.57 <3.17; version=4.16; version=4.4.168 <4.5; version=44491a23b73789c0a914af4ea55ccf8968adf90b; version=d28b387fb74da95d69d2615732f50cceb38e9a4d <07853adc29a058c5fd143c14e5ac528448a72ed9; version=d28b387fb74da95d69d2615732f50cceb38e9a4d <afd743f6dde87296c6f3414706964c491bb85862; version=fc6aae9f407810cb153a9133c28735871f9f0a16

Published CVSS scores

5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
5.3SUSECVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:L

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.

Daily unique IPsNo honeypot observations are available for this CVE in the selected window.

No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

No sourced classifications are available.

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

Labels summarize the accepted research assessment. They do not indicate a test against your environment.

Technologies

Your stack

See the directory against your own environment.

Your stack

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