CVE Database
/

CVE-2020-8834

Back to search

CVE-2020-8834

Published: Apr 9, 2020

Modified: Sep 16, 2024

PUBLISHED

CVSS v3.1

6.5

MEDIUM

Description

KVM in the Linux kernel on Power8 processors has a conflicting use of HSTATE_HOST_R1 to store r1 state in kvmppc_hv_entry plus in kvmppc_{save,restore}_tm, leading to a stack corruption. Because of this, an attacker with the ability run code in kernel space of a guest VM can cause the host kernel to panic. There were two commits that, according to the reporter, introduced the vulnerability: f024ee098476 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Pull out TM state save/restore into separate procedures") 87a11bb6a7f7 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Work around XER[SO] bug in fake suspend mode") The former landed in 4.8, the latter in 4.17. This was fixed without realizing the impact in 4.18 with the following three commits, though it's believed the first is the only strictly necessary commit: 6f597c6b63b6 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S PR: Add guest MSR parameter for kvmppc_save_tm()/kvmppc_restore_tm()") 7b0e827c6970 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S HV: Factor fake-suspend handling out of kvmppc_save/restore_tm") 009c872a8bc4 ("KVM: PPC: Book3S PR: Move kvmppc_save_tm/kvmppc_restore_tm to separate file")

VendorProductVersions

Linux kernel

Linux kernel

affected
4.8 - < unspecified
affected
unspecified - < 4.18

Weaknesses (CWE)

CVSS v3.1 Details

CVSS v3.1 Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Security Training

Train your team to recognize and prevent security threats with our comprehensive security awareness program.

Start Training

Vulnerability Scanning

Discover vulnerabilities in your applications and infrastructure before attackers do.

Scan Now