powerpc/rtas: Keep MSR[RI] set when calling RTAS
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 6 fixed, 2 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/rtas: Keep MSR[RI] set when calling RTAS RTAS runs in real mode (MSR[DR] and MSR[IR] unset) and in 32-bit big endian mode (MSR[SF,LE] unset). The change in MSR is done in enter_rtas() in a relatively complex way, since the MSR value could be hardcoded. Furthermore, a panic has been reported when hitting the watchdog interrupt while running in RTAS, this leads to the following stack trace: watchdog: CPU 24 Hard LOCKUP watchdog: CPU 24 TB:997512652051031, last heartbeat TB:997504470175378 (15980ms ago) ... Supported: No, Unreleased kernel CPU: 24 PID: 87504 Comm: drmgr Kdump: loaded Tainted: G E X 5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default #1 SLE15-SP4 (unreleased) 0d821077ef4faa8dfaf370efb5fdca1fa35f4e2c NIP: 000000001fb41050 LR: 000000001fb4104c CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c00000000fc33d60 TRAP: 0100 Tainted: G E X (5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default) MSR: 8000000002981000 <SF,VEC,VSX,ME> CR: 48800002 XER: 20040020 CFAR: 000000000000011c IRQMASK: 1 GPR00: 0000000000000003 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000001 00000000000050dc GPR04: 000000001ffb6100 0000000000000020 0000000000000001 000000001fb09010 GPR08: 0000000020000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 GPR12: 80040000072a40a8 c00000000ff8b680 0000000000000007 0000000000000034 GPR16: 000000001fbf6e94 000000001fbf6d84 000000001fbd1db0 000000001fb3f008 GPR20: 000000001fb41018 ffffffffffffffff 000000000000017f fffffffffffff68f GPR24: 000000001fb18fe8 000000001fb3e000 000000001fb1adc0 000000001fb1cf40 GPR28: 000000001fb26000 000000001fb460f0 000000001fb17f18 000000001fb17000 NIP [000000001fb41050] 0x1fb41050 LR [000000001fb4104c] 0x1fb4104c Call Trace: Instruction dump: XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Oops: Unrecoverable System Reset, sig: 6 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries ... Supported: No, Unreleased kernel CPU: 24 PID: 87504 Comm: drmgr Kdump: loaded Tainted: G E X 5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default #1 SLE15-SP4 (unreleased) 0d821077ef4faa8dfaf370efb5fdca1fa35f4e2c NIP: 000000001fb41050 LR: 000000001fb4104c CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c00000000fc33d60 TRAP: 0100 Tainted: G E X (5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default) MSR: 8000000002981000 <SF,VEC,VSX,ME> CR: 48800002 XER: 20040020 CFAR: 000000000000011c IRQMASK: 1 GPR00: 0000000000000003 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000001 00000000000050dc GPR04: 000000001ffb6100 0000000000000020 0000000000000001 000000001fb09010 GPR08: 0000000020000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 GPR12: 80040000072a40a8 c00000000ff8b680 0000000000000007 0000000000000034 GPR16: 000000001fbf6e94 000000001fbf6d84 000000001fbd1db0 000000001fb3f008 GPR20: 000000001fb41018 ffffffffffffffff 000000000000017f fffffffffffff68f GPR24: 000000001fb18fe8 000000001fb3e000 000000001fb1adc0 000000001fb1cf40 GPR28: 000000001fb26000 000000001fb460f0 000000001fb17f18 000000001fb17000 NIP [000000001fb41050] 0x1fb41050 LR [000000001fb4104c] 0x1fb4104c Call Trace: Instruction dump: XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX ---[ end trace 3ddec07f638c34a2 ]--- This happens because MSR[RI] is unset when entering RTAS but there is no valid reason to not set it here. RTAS is expected to be called with MSR[RI] as specified in PAPR+ section "7.2.1 Machine State": R1–7.2.1–9. If called with MSR[RI] equal to 1, then RTAS must protect its own critical regions from recursion by setting the MSR[RI] bit to 0 when in the critical regions. Fixing this by reviewing the way MSR is compute before calling RTAS. Now a hardcoded value meaning real ---truncated---
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Linux | Linux | 2.6.34 and later | 5.15.46, 5.17.14, 5.18.3, 5.19 | Patch available | CNA |
- Linux VendorLinux Affected 2.6.34 and later Fixed in 5.15.46, 5.17.14, 5.18.3, 5.19 Patch available CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 1
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | before 5.15.46; 5.16 to before 5.17.14; 5.18 to before 5.18.3 | Vulnerable | Linux |
- cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions before 5.15.46; 5.16 to before 5.17.14; 5.18 to before 5.18.3 Vulnerable ·Linux
Remediation
- Fix · CNA Linux (Linux) Fixed in 5.15.46, 5.17.14, 5.18.3, 5.19
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2023:0512 Released 2023-01-30 · Red Hat rating Importantkernel security and bug fix update
- Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.0) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) kernel-debug-devel-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0, kernel-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0, kernel-devel-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0 +5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.0) bpftool-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0, kernel-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0, kernel-abi-stablelists-5.14.0-70.43.1.el9_0 +14
- RHSA-2022:8267 Released 2022-11-15 · Red Hat rating Moderatekernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) kernel-tools-libs-devel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) kernel-debug-devel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-debug-devel-matched-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-devel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1 +5
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) bpftool-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1, kernel-abi-stablelists-5.14.0-162.6.1.el9_1 +14
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8267 |
| Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder EUS (v.9.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2023:0512 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8267 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream EUS (v.9.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2023:0512 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) | Fixed | RHSA-2022:8267 |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS EUS (v.9.0) | Fixed | RHSA-2023:0512 |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 10
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2022-49440
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-64ww-mp7v-2p59
References
More Linux Kernel vulnerabilities
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2022-49440 · CVE Program
- CVE-2022-49440 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-64ww-mp7v-2p59 · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2022-49440 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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