// For flags

CVE-2022-50224

KVM: x86/mmu: Treat NX as a valid SPTE bit for NPT

Severity Score

7.1
*CVSS v3

Exploit Likelihood

*EPSS

Affected Versions

*CPE

Public Exploits

0
*Multiple Sources

Exploited in Wild

-
*KEV

Decision

-
*SSVC
Descriptions

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Treat NX as a valid SPTE bit for NPT Treat the NX bit as valid when using NPT, as KVM will set the NX bit when
the NX huge page mitigation is enabled (mindblowing) and trigger the WARN
that fires on reserved SPTE bits being set. KVM has required NX support for SVM since commit b26a71a1a5b9 ("KVM: SVM:
Refuse to load kvm_amd if NX support is not available") for exactly this
reason, but apparently it never occurred to anyone to actually test NPT
with the mitigation enabled. ------------[ cut here ]------------ spte = 0x800000018a600ee7, level = 2, rsvd bits = 0x800f0000001fe000 WARNING: CPU: 152 PID: 15966 at arch/x86/kvm/mmu/spte.c:215 make_spte+0x327/0x340 [kvm] Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 10.48.0 01/27/2022 RIP: 0010:make_spte+0x327/0x340 [kvm] Call Trace: <TASK> tdp_mmu_map_handle_target_level+0xc3/0x230 [kvm] kvm_tdp_mmu_map+0x343/0x3b0 [kvm] direct_page_fault+0x1ae/0x2a0 [kvm] kvm_tdp_page_fault+0x7d/0x90 [kvm] kvm_mmu_page_fault+0xfb/0x2e0 [kvm] npf_interception+0x55/0x90 [kvm_amd] svm_invoke_exit_handler+0x31/0xf0 [kvm_amd] svm_handle_exit+0xf6/0x1d0 [kvm_amd] vcpu_enter_guest+0xb6d/0xee0 [kvm] ? kvm_pmu_trigger_event+0x6d/0x230 [kvm] vcpu_run+0x65/0x2c0 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x355/0x610 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x551/0x610 [kvm] __se_sys_ioctl+0x77/0xc0 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x1d/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x44/0xa0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86/mmu: Treat NX as a valid SPTE bit for NPT Treat the NX bit as valid when using NPT, as KVM will set the NX bit when the NX huge page mitigation is enabled (mindblowing) and trigger the WARN that fires on reserved SPTE bits being set. KVM has required NX support for SVM since commit b26a71a1a5b9 ("KVM: SVM: Refuse to load kvm_amd if NX support is not available") for exactly this reason, but apparently it never occurred to anyone to actually test NPT with the mitigation enabled. ------------[ cut here ]------------ spte = 0x800000018a600ee7, level = 2, rsvd bits = 0x800f0000001fe000 WARNING: CPU: 152 PID: 15966 at arch/x86/kvm/mmu/spte.c:215 make_spte+0x327/0x340 [kvm] Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 10.48.0 01/27/2022 RIP: 0010:make_spte+0x327/0x340 [kvm] Call Trace: <TASK> tdp_mmu_map_handle_target_level+0xc3/0x230 [kvm] kvm_tdp_mmu_map+0x343/0x3b0 [kvm] direct_page_fault+0x1ae/0x2a0 [kvm] kvm_tdp_page_fault+0x7d/0x90 [kvm] kvm_mmu_page_fault+0xfb/0x2e0 [kvm] npf_interception+0x55/0x90 [kvm_amd] svm_invoke_exit_handler+0x31/0xf0 [kvm_amd] svm_handle_exit+0xf6/0x1d0 [kvm_amd] vcpu_enter_guest+0xb6d/0xee0 [kvm] ? kvm_pmu_trigger_event+0x6d/0x230 [kvm] vcpu_run+0x65/0x2c0 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x355/0x610 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x551/0x610 [kvm] __se_sys_ioctl+0x77/0xc0 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x1d/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x44/0xa0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

*Credits: N/A
CVSS Scores
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
High
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Medium
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Partial
Integrity
Partial
Availability
None
* Common Vulnerability Scoring System
SSVC
  • Decision:-
Exploitation
-
Automatable
-
Tech. Impact
-
* Organization's Worst-case Scenario
Timeline
  • 2025-06-18 CVE Reserved
  • 2025-06-18 CVE Published
  • 2025-06-18 CVE Updated
  • 2025-06-24 EPSS Updated
  • ---------- Exploited in Wild
  • ---------- KEV Due Date
  • ---------- First Exploit
CWE
CAPEC
Affected Vendors, Products, and Versions
Vendor Product Version Other Status
Vendor Product Version Other Status <-- --> Vendor Product Version Other Status
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 5.19.2
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 5.19.2"
en
Affected
Linux
Search vendor "Linux"
Linux Kernel
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel"
< 6.0
Search vendor "Linux" for product "Linux Kernel" and version " < 6.0"
en
Affected