CVE-2025-38455

Host crash via in-flight SEV-ES migration race

Published Jul 25, 2025 · Updated Aug 5, 2026

Race condition in Linux KVM SVM allows local users to crash an AMD SEV-capable host through SEV-ES migration ioctls. The migration path can toggle sev_info.es_active while svm_vcpu_create runs outside kvm->lock, leaving an SEV-ES VM with a non-SEV-ES vCPU and a NULL VMSA page. Access to /dev/kvm on an AMD SEV-capable host is required; freeing the malformed vCPU can fault the host kernel and interrupt all co-resident guests.

CVSS severity7.8
High
EPSS probability0.16%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Race condition in Linux KVM SVM allows local users to crash an AMD SEV-capable host through SEV-ES migration ioctls. The migration path can toggle sev_info.es_active while svm_vcpu_create runs outside kvm->lock, leaving an SEV-ES VM with a non-SEV-ES vCPU and a NULL VMSA page. Access to /dev/kvm on an AMD SEV-capable host is required; freeing the malformed vCPU can fault the host kernel and interrupt all co-resident guests.

The record

CVE
CVE-2025-38455
Published
Jul 25, 2025
Updated
Aug 5, 2026
Vendor
The Linux Kernel Organization
Product
Linux
Classifications
CWE-476, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. Jul 25, 2025CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 5, 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.

  1. Affected versionversion=5.16
  2. Affected versionversion=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <8c8e8d4d7544bb783e15078eda8ba2580e192246
  3. Affected versionversion=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <b5725213149597cd9c2b075b87bc4e0f87e906c1
  4. Affected versionversion=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <e0d9a7cf37ca09c513420dc88e0d0e805a4f0820
  5. Affected versionversion=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <ecf371f8b02d5e31b9aa1da7f159f1b2107bdb01
  6. Affected versionversion=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <fd044c99d831e9f837518816c7c366b04014d405

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

The Linux Kernel Organization · Linuxversion=5.16; version=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <8c8e8d4d7544bb783e15078eda8ba2580e192246; version=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <b5725213149597cd9c2b075b87bc4e0f87e906c1; version=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <e0d9a7cf37ca09c513420dc88e0d0e805a4f0820; version=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <ecf371f8b02d5e31b9aa1da7f159f1b2107bdb01; version=b56639318bb2be66aceba92836279714488709b4 <fd044c99d831e9f837518816c7c366b04014d405

Published CVSS scores

7.8kernel.orgCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
5.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

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

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference
T1499.004Endpoint Denial of Service: Application or System Exploitation

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

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Your stack

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