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TI-2021-21757 Aliases CVE-2021-47094GHSA-56c7-fm3g-6g6m

KVM: x86/mmu: Don't advance iterator after restart due to yielding

Priority LOW 33Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
—
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
High · High · High
Fix status
Partial Red Hat: 1 without a fix

Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CNA. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Don't advance iterator after restart due to yielding After dropping mmu_lock in the TDP MMU, restart the iterator during tdp_iter_next() and do not advance the iterator. Advancing the iterator results in skipping the top-level SPTE and all its children, which is fatal if any of the skipped SPTEs were not visited before yielding. When zapping all SPTEs, i.e. when min_level == root_level, restarting the iter and then invoking tdp_iter_next() is always fatal if the current gfn has as a valid SPTE, as advancing the iterator results in try_step_side() skipping the current gfn, which wasn't visited before yielding. Sprinkle WARNs on iter->yielded being true in various helpers that are often used in conjunction with yielding, and tag the helper with __must_check to reduce the probabily of improper usage. Failing to zap a top-level SPTE manifests in one of two ways. If a valid SPTE is skipped by both kvm_tdp_mmu_zap_all() and kvm_tdp_mmu_put_root(), the shadow page will be leaked and KVM will WARN accordingly. WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 3509 at arch/x86/kvm/mmu/tdp_mmu.c:46 [kvm] RIP: 0010:kvm_mmu_uninit_tdp_mmu+0x3e/0x50 [kvm] Call Trace: <TASK> kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x130/0x1b0 [kvm] kvm_destroy_vm+0x162/0x2a0 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_release+0x34/0x60 [kvm] __fput+0x82/0x240 task_work_run+0x5c/0x90 do_exit+0x364/0xa10 ? futex_unqueue+0x38/0x60 do_group_exit+0x33/0xa0 get_signal+0x155/0x850 arch_do_signal_or_restart+0xed/0x750 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0xc5/0x120 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1d/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x48/0xc0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae If kvm_tdp_mmu_zap_all() skips a gfn/SPTE but that SPTE is then zapped by kvm_tdp_mmu_put_root(), KVM triggers a use-after-free in the form of marking a struct page as dirty/accessed after it has been put back on the free list. This directly triggers a WARN due to encountering a page with page_count() == 0, but it can also lead to data corruption and additional errors in the kernel. WARNING: CPU: 7 PID: 1995658 at arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:171 RIP: 0010:kvm_is_zone_device_pfn.part.0+0x9e/0xd0 [kvm] Call Trace: <TASK> kvm_set_pfn_dirty+0x120/0x1d0 [kvm] __handle_changed_spte+0x92e/0xca0 [kvm] __handle_changed_spte+0x63c/0xca0 [kvm] __handle_changed_spte+0x63c/0xca0 [kvm] __handle_changed_spte+0x63c/0xca0 [kvm] zap_gfn_range+0x549/0x620 [kvm] kvm_tdp_mmu_put_root+0x1b6/0x270 [kvm] mmu_free_root_page+0x219/0x2c0 [kvm] kvm_mmu_free_roots+0x1b4/0x4e0 [kvm] kvm_mmu_unload+0x1c/0xa0 [kvm] kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x1f2/0x5c0 [kvm] kvm_put_kvm+0x3b1/0x8b0 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_release+0x4e/0x70 [kvm] __fput+0x1f7/0x8c0 task_work_run+0xf8/0x1a0 do_exit+0x97b/0x2230 do_group_exit+0xda/0x2a0 get_signal+0x3be/0x1e50 arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x244/0x17f0 exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0xcb/0x120 syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x1d/0x40 do_syscall_64+0x4d/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae Note, the underlying bug existed even before commit 1af4a96025b3 ("KVM: x86/mmu: Yield in TDU MMU iter even if no SPTES changed") moved calls to tdp_mmu_iter_cond_resched() to the beginning of loops, as KVM could still incorrectly advance past a top-level entry when yielding on a lower-level entry. But with respect to leaking shadow pages, the bug was introduced by yielding before processing the current gfn. Alternatively, tdp_mmu_iter_cond_resched() could simply fall through, or callers could jump to their "retry" label. The downside of that approach is that tdp_mmu_iter_cond_resched() _must_ be called before anything else in the loop, and there's no easy way to enfornce that requirement. Ideally, KVM would handling the cond_resched() fully within the iterator macro (the code is actually quite clean) and avoid this entire class of bugs, but that is extremely difficult do wh ---truncated---

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.00218 12th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.15.12, 5.16Red Hat: 1 without a fix

SSVC decision points

CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3

Exploitation
None
Automatable
No
Technical impact
Partial

The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
LinuxLinux5.10 and later5.15.12, 5.16Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.10 and later Fixed in 5.15.12, 5.16 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 7

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*5.10 to before 5.15.12VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc5VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*5.16 rc6VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.10 to before 5.15.12 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.16:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.16 rc6 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.12, 5.16

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

ProductStatusPlan or fix
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8AffectedNo fix yet
Not affected: 3 products
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2021-47094
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-56c7-fm3g-6g6m

References

  • TI-2025-26358 tls: fix handling of zero-length records on the rx_list KEVCVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
  • TI-2026-38352 netfilter: bridge: make ebt_snat ARP rewrite writable KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2013-05264 The (1) get_user and (2) put_user API functions in the Linux kernel before 3.5.5 on the… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
  • TI-2022-00125 Integer overflow in kernel KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2013-01864 The perf_swevent_init function in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.9… KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.4
  • TI-2021-05514 Heap Out-Of-Bounds Write in Netfilter IP6T_SO_SET_REPLACE KEVCVSS 3.1HIGH 8.3
See all 15278 →

Sources