CVE-2023-54296
Unknown Unknown - Not Provided
Null Pointer Dereference in Linux KVM SVM Causes Host Crash

Publication date: 2025-12-30

Last updated on: 2025-12-30

Assigner: kernel.org

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SVM: Get source vCPUs from source VM for SEV-ES intrahost migration Fix a goof where KVM tries to grab source vCPUs from the destination VM when doing intrahost migration. Grabbing the wrong vCPU not only hoses the guest, it also crashes the host due to the VMSA pointer being left NULL. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffe38687000000 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 39 PID: 17143 Comm: sev_migrate_tes Tainted: GO 6.5.0-smp--fff2e47e6c3b-next #151 Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 34.28.0 07/10/2023 RIP: 0010:__free_pages+0x15/0xd0 RSP: 0018:ffff923fcf6e3c78 EFLAGS: 00010246 RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: ffffe38687000000 RCX: 0000000000000100 RDX: 0000000000000100 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffffe38687000000 RBP: ffff923fcf6e3c88 R08: ffff923fcafb0000 R09: 0000000000000000 R10: 0000000000000000 R11: ffffffff83619b90 R12: ffff923fa9540000 R13: 0000000000080007 R14: ffff923f6d35d000 R15: 0000000000000000 FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff929d0d7c0000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000 CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 CR2: ffffe38687000000 CR3: 0000005224c34005 CR4: 0000000000770ee0 PKRU: 55555554 Call Trace: <TASK> sev_free_vcpu+0xcb/0x110 [kvm_amd] svm_vcpu_free+0x75/0xf0 [kvm_amd] kvm_arch_vcpu_destroy+0x36/0x140 [kvm] kvm_destroy_vcpus+0x67/0x100 [kvm] kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x161/0x1d0 [kvm] kvm_put_kvm+0x276/0x560 [kvm] kvm_vm_release+0x25/0x30 [kvm] __fput+0x106/0x280 ____fput+0x12/0x20 task_work_run+0x86/0xb0 do_exit+0x2e3/0x9c0 do_group_exit+0xb1/0xc0 __x64_sys_exit_group+0x1b/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x41/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd </TASK> CR2: ffffe38687000000
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Meta Information
Published
2025-12-30
Last Modified
2025-12-30
Generated
2026-05-07
AI Q&A
2025-12-30
EPSS Evaluated
2026-05-05
NVD
CVE-2023-54296
EUVD
EUVD-2023-60508
Affected Vendors & Products
Showing 1 associated CPE
Vendor Product Version / Range
linux linux_kernel *
Helpful Resources
Exploitability
CWE
CWE Icon
KEV
KEV Icon
CWE ID Description
CWE-UNKNOWN
Attack-Flow Graph
AI Powered Q&A
Can you explain this vulnerability to me?

This vulnerability occurs in the Linux kernel's KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) subsystem, specifically in the SVM (Secure Virtual Machine) code handling SEV-ES (Secure Encrypted Virtualization - Encrypted State) intrahost migration. The issue is that during migration of a virtual machine within the same host, KVM incorrectly tries to get source virtual CPUs (vCPUs) from the destination VM instead of the source VM. This mistake causes the guest virtual machine to malfunction and also crashes the host system because a critical pointer (VMSA pointer) is left NULL, leading to a kernel page fault.


How can this vulnerability impact me? :

This vulnerability can cause the guest virtual machine to become unstable or unusable ('hoses the guest') and can also crash the host system running the Linux kernel. This means that systems using KVM with SEV-ES intrahost migration could experience unexpected downtime or data loss due to host crashes triggered by this bug.


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