CVE-2022-49146 virtio: use virtio_device_ready() in virtio_device_restore()

Medium 5.5 Published 26 Feb 2025 Updated 11 May 2026

A missing interrupt enablement in virtio device restore causes IRQ storms and system instability after VM resume, leading to denial of service.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2022-49146?

CVE-2022-49146 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 26 Feb 2025. 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:

virtio: use virtio_device_ready() in virtio_device_restore()

After waking up a suspended VM, the kernel prints the following trace for virtio drivers which do not directly call virtio_device_ready() in the .restore:

PM: suspend exit irq 22: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option) Call Trace: <IRQ> dump_stack_lvl+0x38/0x49 dump_stack+0x10/0x12 __report_bad_irq+0x3a/0xaf note_interrupt.cold+0xb/0x60 handle_irq_event+0x71/0x80 handle_fasteoi_irq+0x95/0x1e0 __common_interrupt+0x6b/0x110 common_interrupt+0x63/0xe0 asm_common_interrupt+0x1e/0x40 ? __do_softirq+0x75/0x2f3 irq_exit_rcu+0x93/0xe0 sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0xac/0xd0 </IRQ> <TASK> asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt+0x12/0x20 arch_cpu_idle+0x12/0x20 default_idle_call+0x39/0xf0 do_idle+0x1b5/0x210 cpu_startup_entry+0x20/0x30 start_secondary+0xf3/0x100 secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0xc3/0xcb </TASK> handlers: [<000000008f9bac49>] vp_interrupt [<000000008f9bac49>] vp_interrupt Disabling IRQ #22

This happens because we don't invoke .enable_cbs callback in virtio_device_restore(). That callback is used by some transports (e.g. virtio-pci) to enable interrupts.

Let's fix it, by calling virtio_device_ready() as we do in virtio_dev_probe(). This function calls .enable_cts callback and sets DRIVER_OK status bit.

This fix also avoids setting DRIVER_OK twice for those drivers that call virtio_device_ready() in the .restore.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49146?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2022-49146?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2022-49146 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49146 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49146, GHSA-xjrq-fpgw-9fhm, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49146.