CVE-2022-2196 Speculative execution attacks in KVM VMX

2023-01-0910:59:53

CWE-1188

Google

github.com

cve-2022-2196

kvm vmx

speculative execution

linux kernel

nvmx

spectre v2

retpolines

ibpb

eibrs support

code execution

indirect branch

upgrade

kernel 6.2

commit 2e7eab81425a

CVSS3

5.8

Attack Vector

LOCAL

Attack Complexity

HIGH

Privileges Required

LOW

User Interaction

NONE

Scope

UNCHANGED

Confidentiality Impact

LOW

Integrity Impact

HIGH

Availability Impact

LOW

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

AI Score

7.5

Confidence

Low

SSVC

Exploitation

none

Automatable

Technical Impact

total

JSON

A regression exists in the Linux Kernel within KVM: nVMX that allowed for speculative execution attacks. L2 can carry out Spectre v2 attacks on L1 due to L1 thinking it doesn’t need retpolines or IBPB after running L2 due to KVM (L0) advertising eIBRS support to L1. An attacker at L2 with code execution can execute code on an indirect branch on the host machine. We recommend upgrading to Kernel 6.2 or past commit 2e7eab81425a

CNA Affected

[
  {
    "repo": "https://git.kernel.org/",
    "vendor": "Linux",
    "product": "Linux Kernel",
    "versions": [
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "0",
        "lessThan": "2e7eab81425a",
        "versionType": "git"
      },
      {
        "status": "affected",
        "version": "0",
        "lessThan": "6.2",
        "versionType": "custom"
      }
    ],
    "packageName": "KVM",
    "defaultStatus": "unaffected"
  }
]