CVE-2022-49932 KVM: VMX: Do _all_ initialization before exposing /dev/kvm to userspace
A race condition in Linux KVM initialization allows local users to trigger a kernel NULL pointer dereference and crash the system.
- 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-2022-49932?
CVE-2022-49932 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 2 May 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:
KVM: VMX: Do _all_ initialization before exposing /dev/kvm to userspace
Call kvm_init() only after _all_ setup is complete, as kvm_init() exposes /dev/kvm to userspace and thus allows userspace to create VMs (and call other ioctls). E.g. KVM will encounter a NULL pointer when attempting to add a vCPU to the per-CPU loaded_vmcss_on_cpu list if userspace is able to create a VM before vmx_init() configures said list.
BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000008 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0002) - not-present page PGD 0 P4D 0 Oops: 0002 [#1] SMP CPU: 6 PID: 1143 Comm: stable Not tainted 6.0.0-rc7+ #988 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 RIP: 0010:vmx_vcpu_load_vmcs+0x68/0x230 [kvm_intel] <TASK> vmx_vcpu_load+0x16/0x60 [kvm_intel] kvm_arch_vcpu_load+0x32/0x1f0 [kvm] vcpu_load+0x2f/0x40 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_create+0x231/0x310 [kvm] kvm_vm_ioctl+0x79f/0xe10 [kvm] ? handle_mm_fault+0xb1/0x220 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x80/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x2b/0x50 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 RIP: 0033:0x7f5a6b05743b </TASK> Modules linked in: vhost_net vhost vhost_iotlb tap kvm_intel(+) kvm irqbypass
Weakness: CWE-476
Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-49932?
It affects 1 product.
Products include Linux kernel.
How do I fix CVE-2022-49932?
Apply the vendor's patch.
Is CVE-2022-49932 being exploited?
There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-49932 in the wild and no public exploit code.
Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel
Sources
Also known as AZL-70117, DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49932, GHSA-gfj7-8hq4-g63x, ROOT-OS-DEBIAN-11-CVE-2022-49932, ROOT-OS-UBUNTU-2204-CVE-2022-49932, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-49932.