# CVE-2022-49557: x86/fpu: KVM: Set the base guest FPU uABI size to sizeof(struct kvm_xsave)

> A memory corruption vulnerability in the Linux kernel's KVM module allows out-of-bounds writes on hosts without XSAVE support, potentially leading to crashes or code execution.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Feb 2025
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49557, GHSA-wj9j-fjjc-mfr6, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49557

## What is CVE-2022-49557?

CVE-2022-49557 is a high-severity memory corruption 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:

x86/fpu: KVM: Set the base guest FPU uABI size to sizeof(struct kvm_xsave)

Set the starting uABI size of KVM's guest FPU to 'struct kvm_xsave',
i.e. to KVM's historical uABI size.  When saving FPU state for usersapce,
KVM (well, now the FPU) sets the FP+SSE bits in the XSAVE header even if
the host doesn't support XSAVE.  Setting the XSAVE header allows the VM
to be migrated to a host that does support XSAVE without the new host
having to handle FPU state that may or may not be compatible with XSAVE.

Setting the uABI size to the host's default size results in out-of-bounds
writes (setting the FP+SSE bits) and data corruption (that is thankfully
caught by KASAN) when running on hosts without XSAVE, e.g. on Core2 CPUs.

WARN if the default size is larger than KVM's historical uABI size; all
features that can push the FPU size beyond the historical size must be
opt-in.

  ==================================================================
  BUG: KASAN: slab-out-of-bounds in fpu_copy_uabi_to_guest_fpstate+0x86/0x130
  Read of size 8 at addr ffff888011e33a00 by task qemu-build/681
  CPU: 1 PID: 681 Comm: qemu-build Not tainted 5.18.0-rc5-KASAN-amd64 #1
  Hardware name:  /DG35EC, BIOS ECG3510M.86A.0118.2010.0113.1426 01/13/2010
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   dump_stack_lvl+0x34/0x45
   print_report.cold+0x45/0x575
   kasan_report+0x9b/0xd0
   fpu_copy_uabi_to_guest_fpstate+0x86/0x130
   kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl+0x72a/0x1c50 [kvm]
   kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x47f/0x7b0 [kvm]
   __x64_sys_ioctl+0x5de/0xc90
   do_syscall_64+0x31/0x50
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae
   </TASK>
  Allocated by task 0:
  (stack is not available)
  The buggy address belongs to the object at ffff888011e33800
   which belongs to the cache kmalloc-512 of size 512
  The buggy address is located 0 bytes to the right of
   512-byte region [ffff888011e33800, ffff888011e33a00)
  The buggy address belongs to the physical page:
  page:0000000089cd4adb refcount:1 mapcount:0 mapping:0000000000000000 index:0x0 pfn:0x11e30
  head:0000000089cd4adb order:2 compound_mapcount:0 compound_pincount:0
  flags: 0x4000000000010200(slab|head|zone=1)
  raw: 4000000000010200 dead000000000100 dead000000000122 ffff888001041c80
  raw: 0000000000000000 0000000080100010 00000001ffffffff 0000000000000000
  page dumped because: kasan: bad access detected
  Memory state around the buggy address:
   ffff888011e33900: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
   ffff888011e33980: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
  >ffff888011e33a00: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc
                     ^
   ffff888011e33a80: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc
   ffff888011e33b00: fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc fc
  ==================================================================
  Disabling lock debugging due to kernel taint

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49557?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2022-49557?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-49557 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49557 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-2022-49557 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-49557 is a high-severity memory corruption 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49557 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-2022-49557/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49557/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-49557
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-49557
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-49557

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-49557/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.