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TI-2021-21921 Aliases CVE-2021-47262GHSA-9fqj-w3wf-p8vf

KVM: x86: Ensure liveliness of nested VM-Enter fail tracepoint message

Priority LOW 31Published · Updated

Key facts

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

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

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Ensure liveliness of nested VM-Enter fail tracepoint message Use the __string() machinery provided by the tracing subystem to make a copy of the string literals consumed by the "nested VM-Enter failed" tracepoint. A complete copy is necessary to ensure that the tracepoint can't outlive the data/memory it consumes and deference stale memory. Because the tracepoint itself is defined by kvm, if kvm-intel and/or kvm-amd are built as modules, the memory holding the string literals defined by the vendor modules will be freed when the module is unloaded, whereas the tracepoint and its data in the ring buffer will live until kvm is unloaded (or "indefinitely" if kvm is built-in). This bug has existed since the tracepoint was added, but was recently exposed by a new check in tracing to detect exactly this type of bug. fmt: '%s%s ' current_buffer: ' vmx_dirty_log_t-140127 [003] .... kvm_nested_vmenter_failed: ' WARNING: CPU: 3 PID: 140134 at kernel/trace/trace.c:3759 trace_check_vprintf+0x3be/0x3e0 CPU: 3 PID: 140134 Comm: less Not tainted 5.13.0-rc1-ce2e73ce600a-req #184 Hardware name: ASUS Q87M-E/Q87M-E, BIOS 1102 03/03/2014 RIP: 0010:trace_check_vprintf+0x3be/0x3e0 Code: <0f> 0b 44 8b 4c 24 1c e9 a9 fe ff ff c6 44 02 ff 00 49 8b 97 b0 20 RSP: 0018:ffffa895cc37bcb0 EFLAGS: 00010282 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffa895cc37bd08 RCX: 0000000000000027 RDX: 0000000000000027 RSI: 00000000ffffdfff RDI: ffff9766cfad74f8 RBP: ffffffffc0a041d4 R08: ffff9766cfad74f0 R09: ffffa895cc37bad8 R10: 0000000000000001 R11: 0000000000000001 R12: ffffffffc0a041d4 R13: ffffffffc0f4dba8 R14: 0000000000000000 R15: ffff976409f2c000 FS: 00007f92fa200740(0000) GS:ffff9766cfac0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: 0000559bd11b0000 CR3: 000000019fbaa002 CR4: 00000000001726e0 Call Trace: trace_event_printf+0x5e/0x80 trace_raw_output_kvm_nested_vmenter_failed+0x3a/0x60 [kvm] print_trace_line+0x1dd/0x4e0 s_show+0x45/0x150 seq_read_iter+0x2d5/0x4c0 seq_read+0x106/0x150 vfs_read+0x98/0x180 ksys_read+0x5f/0xe0 do_syscall_64+0x40/0xb0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

Why it matters now

Exploitation None reported CISA SSVC · not in CISA KEV
EPSS 0.0023 13th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix Partial Linux (Linux): 5.4.126, 5.10.44, 5.12.11 +1Red 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
LinuxLinux5.4 and later5.4.126, 5.10.44, 5.12.11, 5.13Patch availableCNA
  • Linux VendorLinux Affected 5.4 and later Fixed in 5.4.126, 5.10.44, 5.12.11, 5.13 Patch available CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 6

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*5.4 to before 5.4.126; 5.5 to before 5.10.44; 5.11 to before 5.12.11VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc1VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc2VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc3VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc4VulnerableLinux
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*5.13 rc5VulnerableLinux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.4 to before 5.4.126; 5.5 to before 5.10.44; 5.11 to before 5.12.11 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc1 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc2 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc3 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc4 Vulnerable ·Linux
  • cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:5.13:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 5.13 rc5 Vulnerable ·Linux

Remediation

  • Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.4.126, 5.10.44, 5.12.11, 5.13

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-2021-47262
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-9fqj-w3wf-p8vf

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