Linux Kernel up to 7.2.2 KVM snp_map_cmd_buf_desc memory corruption

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability identified as very critical has been detected in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.2. The impacted element is the function snp_map_cmd_buf_desc of the component KVM. This manipulation causes memory corruption. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2026-80853. The attack can be initiated remotely. There is not any exploit available.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability has been found in Linux Kernel up to 7.2.2 and classified as very critical. Affected by this vulnerability is the function snp_map_cmd_buf_desc of the component KVM. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. The CWE definition for the vulnerability is CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. As an impact it is known to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability. The summary by CVE is:

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SEV: Allocate full pages for {DE,EN}CRYPT ops on SNP-enabled hosts When {de,en}crypting memory of an SEV or SEV-ES guest on an SNP-enabled host via a temporary buffer, allocate a full 4KiB page for the buffer to ensure the page containing the buffer is wholly owned by KVM, i.e. won't be concurrently allocated and accessed by other kernel code while KVM is using the buffer to {de,en}crypt memory. On SNP-enabled platforms, when sending SEV/SEV-ES commands that trigger firmware writes to memory, the to-be-written page(s) must be (temporarily) assigned to Firmware (as required by the SNP architecture, to guard against using such commands as gadgets to attack SNP guests). See snp_map_cmd_buf_desc() and friends. Unfortunately, transferring ownership of a page to Firmware makes the page inaccessible to software, and thus writes generate RMP #PF violations. If KVM uses a sub-page allocation for its temporary buffer, some other actor in the kernel can allocate and use the other portions of the page, and thus trigger unexpected (and seemingly spurious) RMP #PF violations due to software attempting to access a Firmware-owned page. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffff906ae30f0300 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x80000003) - RMP violation PGD 6b1b80d067 P4D 6b1b80d067 PUD 100231e2063 PMD 10055a88063 PTE 80000100630f0163 SEV-SNP: PFN 0x100630f0 unassigned, dumping non-zero entries in 2M PFN region: [0x10063000 - 0x10063200] Oops: Oops: 0003 [#1] SMP CPU: 70 UID: 0 PID: 10658 Comm: svw_WaiterThrea Tainted: G U W O 7.1.0-smp--c22293789940-seanjc-next #1 PREEMPTLAZY Tainted: [U]=USER, [W]=WARN, [O]=OOT_MODULE Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 34.86.0-102 01/25/2026 RIP: 0010:memset+0xf/0x20 Call Trace: <TASK> __kvmalloc_node_noprof+0x2a4/0x710 do_getxattr+0x4e/0x130 path_getxattrat+0x125/0x1b0 do_syscall_64+0x10a/0x480 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 RIP: 0033:0x7f3a22cb6daa </TASK> Modules linked in: kvm_amd kvm irqbypass vfat fat ccp k10temp sha3 libsha3 i2c_piix4 gq(O) cdc_acm xhci_pci xhci_hcd gsmi: Log Shutdown Reason 0x03 CR2: ffff906ae30f0300 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- RIP: 0010:memset+0xf/0x20 Kernel panic - not syncing: Fatal exception Kernel Offset: 0x39e00000 from 0xffffffff81000000 (relocation range: 0xffffffff80000000-0xffffffffbfffffff) gsmi: Log Shutdown Reason 0x02

It is possible to read the advisory at git.kernel.org. This vulnerability is known as CVE-2026-80853 since 08/26/2026. The exploitation appears to be easy. The attack can be launched remotely. Technical details of the vulnerability are known, but there is no available exploit. The pricing for an exploit might be around USD $5k-$25k at the moment (estimation calculated on 09/04/2026).

Upgrading to version 7.2.3 or 7.3-rc1 eliminates this vulnerability. Applying the patch 97f6402f5950ca3450541287c4b3664f3acda976/a33c40b93ccf5177e042253807d40e0b92e7f206 is able to eliminate this problem.

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Productinfo

Type

• Operating System

Vendor

• Linux

Name

• Kernel

Version

• 7.2.0
• 7.2.1
• 7.2.2

License

• open-source

Website

• Vendor: https://www.kernel.org/

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