# CVE-2024-55881: KVM: x86: Play nice with protected guests in complete_hypercall_exit()

> A flaw in Linux KVM causes a kernel warning and potential crash when handling hypercalls from protected guests like SEV-ES or SEV-SNP.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 11 Jan 2025
- **Updated:** 23 May 2026
- **Also known as:** BELL-CVE-2024-55881, DEBIAN-CVE-2024-55881, GHSA-h4p6-vxwp-4w5q, UBUNTU-CVE-2024-55881

## What is CVE-2024-55881?

CVE-2024-55881 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 11 Jan 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: x86: Play nice with protected guests in complete_hypercall_exit()

Use is_64_bit_hypercall() instead of is_64_bit_mode() to detect a 64-bit
hypercall when completing said hypercall.  For guests with protected state,
e.g. SEV-ES and SEV-SNP, KVM must assume the hypercall was made in 64-bit
mode as the vCPU state needed to detect 64-bit mode is unavailable.

Hacking the sev_smoke_test selftest to generate a KVM_HC_MAP_GPA_RANGE
hypercall via VMGEXIT trips the WARN:

  ------------[ cut here ]------------
  WARNING: CPU: 273 PID: 326626 at arch/x86/kvm/x86.h:180 complete_hypercall_exit+0x44/0xe0 [kvm]
  Modules linked in: kvm_amd kvm ... [last unloaded: kvm]
  CPU: 273 UID: 0 PID: 326626 Comm: sev_smoke_test Not tainted 6.12.0-smp--392e932fa0f3-feat #470
  Hardware name: Google Astoria/astoria, BIOS 0.20240617.0-0 06/17/2024
  RIP: 0010:complete_hypercall_exit+0x44/0xe0 [kvm]
  Call Trace:
   <TASK>
   kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x2400/0x2720 [kvm]
   kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x54f/0x630 [kvm]
   __se_sys_ioctl+0x6b/0xc0
   do_syscall_64+0x83/0x160
   entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
   </TASK>
  ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2024-55881?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Linux kernel.

## How do I fix CVE-2024-55881?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2024-55881 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2024-55881 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-2024-55881 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2024-55881 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 11 Jan 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-2024-55881 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-2024-55881/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-55881/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2024-55881
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2024-55881
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2024-55881

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-55881/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.