# CVE-2022-48943: KVM: x86/mmu: make apf token non-zero to fix bug

> A bug in KVM async page fault handling can cause guest tasks to block indefinitely, leading to a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.1 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 22 Aug 2024
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-48943, GHSA-v5xv-g87f-x57w, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-48943, USN-7122-1

## What is CVE-2022-48943?

CVE-2022-48943 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Aug 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: x86/mmu: make apf token non-zero to fix bug

In current async pagefault logic, when a page is ready, KVM relies on
kvm_arch_can_dequeue_async_page_present() to determine whether to deliver
a READY event to the Guest. This function test token value of struct
kvm_vcpu_pv_apf_data, which must be reset to zero by Guest kernel when a
READY event is finished by Guest. If value is zero meaning that a READY
event is done, so the KVM can deliver another.
But the kvm_arch_setup_async_pf() may produce a valid token with zero
value, which is confused with previous mention and may lead the loss of
this READY event.

This bug may cause task blocked forever in Guest:
 INFO: task stress:7532 blocked for more than 1254 seconds.
       Not tainted 5.10.0 #16
 "echo 0 > /proc/sys/kernel/hung_task_timeout_secs" disables this message.
 task:stress          state:D stack:    0 pid: 7532 ppid:  1409
 flags:0x00000080
 Call Trace:
  __schedule+0x1e7/0x650
  schedule+0x46/0xb0
  kvm_async_pf_task_wait_schedule+0xad/0xe0
  ? exit_to_user_mode_prepare+0x60/0x70
  __kvm_handle_async_pf+0x4f/0xb0
  ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x8/0x30
  exc_page_fault+0x6f/0x110
  ? asm_exc_page_fault+0x8/0x30
  asm_exc_page_fault+0x1e/0x30
 RIP: 0033:0x402d00
 RSP: 002b:00007ffd31912500 EFLAGS: 00010206
 RAX: 0000000000071000 RBX: ffffffffffffffff RCX: 00000000021a32b0
 RDX: 000000000007d011 RSI: 000000000007d000 RDI: 00000000021262b0
 RBP: 00000000021262b0 R08: 0000000000000003 R09: 0000000000000086
 R10: 00000000000000eb R11: 00007fefbdf2baa0 R12: 0000000000000000
 R13: 0000000000000002 R14: 000000000007d000 R15: 0000000000001000

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-48943?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-48943?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-48943 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48943 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2022-48943 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-48943 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 22 Aug 2024. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-48943 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48943/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48943/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-48943
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-48943
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-48943

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-48943/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.