CVE-2025-21839 : Detail

CVE-2025-21839

7.3
/
High
0.03%V4
Local
2025-03-07
09h09 +00:00
2026-07-30
05h46 +00:00
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CVE Descriptions

KVM: x86: Load DR6 with guest value only before entering .vcpu_run() loop

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Load DR6 with guest value only before entering .vcpu_run() loop Move the conditional loading of hardware DR6 with the guest's DR6 value out of the core .vcpu_run() loop to fix a bug where KVM can load hardware with a stale vcpu->arch.dr6. When the guest accesses a DR and host userspace isn't debugging the guest, KVM disables DR interception and loads the guest's values into hardware on VM-Enter and saves them on VM-Exit. This allows the guest to access DRs at will, e.g. so that a sequence of DR accesses to configure a breakpoint only generates one VM-Exit. For DR0-DR3, the logic/behavior is identical between VMX and SVM, and also identical between KVM_DEBUGREG_BP_ENABLED (userspace debugging the guest) and KVM_DEBUGREG_WONT_EXIT (guest using DRs), and so KVM handles loading DR0-DR3 in common code, _outside_ of the core kvm_x86_ops.vcpu_run() loop. But for DR6, the guest's value doesn't need to be loaded into hardware for KVM_DEBUGREG_BP_ENABLED, and SVM provides a dedicated VMCB field whereas VMX requires software to manually load the guest value, and so loading the guest's value into DR6 is handled by {svm,vmx}_vcpu_run(), i.e. is done _inside_ the core run loop. Unfortunately, saving the guest values on VM-Exit is initiated by common x86, again outside of the core run loop. If the guest modifies DR6 (in hardware, when DR interception is disabled), and then the next VM-Exit is a fastpath VM-Exit, KVM will reload hardware DR6 with vcpu->arch.dr6 and clobber the guest's actual value. The bug shows up primarily with nested VMX because KVM handles the VMX preemption timer in the fastpath, and the window between hardware DR6 being modified (in guest context) and DR6 being read by guest software is orders of magnitude larger in a nested setup. E.g. in non-nested, the VMX preemption timer would need to fire precisely between #DB injection and the #DB handler's read of DR6, whereas with a KVM-on-KVM setup, the window where hardware DR6 is "dirty" extends all the way from L1 writing DR6 to VMRESUME (in L1). L1's view: ========== CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640961: kvm_entry: vcpu 0 A: L1 Writes DR6 CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640963: : Set DRs, DR6 = 0xffff0ff1 B: CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640967: kvm_exit: vcpu 0 reason EXTERNAL_INTERRUPT intr_info 0x800000ec D: L1 reads DR6, arch.dr6 = 0 CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640969: : Sync DRs, DR6 = 0xffff0ff0 CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640976: kvm_entry: vcpu 0 L2 reads DR6, L1 disables DR interception CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640980: kvm_exit: vcpu 0 reason DR_ACCESS info1 0x0000000000000216 CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640983: kvm_entry: vcpu 0 CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640983: : Set DRs, DR6 = 0xffff0ff0 L2 detects failure CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640987: kvm_exit: vcpu 0 reason HLT L1 reads DR6 (confirms failure) CPU 0/KVM-7289 [023] d.... 2925.640990: : Sync DRs, DR6 = 0xffff0ff0 L0's view: ========== L2 reads DR6, arch.dr6 = 0 CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] d.... 3410.005610: kvm_exit: vcpu 23 reason DR_ACCESS info1 0x0000000000000216 CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] ..... 3410.005610: kvm_nested_vmexit: vcpu 23 reason DR_ACCESS info1 0x0000000000000216 L2 => L1 nested VM-Exit CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] ..... 3410.005610: kvm_nested_vmexit_inject: reason: DR_ACCESS ext_inf1: 0x0000000000000216 CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] d.... 3410.005610: kvm_entry: vcpu 23 CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] d.... 3410.005611: kvm_exit: vcpu 23 reason VMREAD CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] d.... 3410.005611: kvm_entry: vcpu 23 CPU 23/KVM-5046 [001] d.... 3410. ---truncated---

CVE Informations

Related Weaknesses

CWE-ID Weakness Name Source
CWE Other No informations.

Metrics

Metrics Score Severity CVSS Vector Source
V3.1 7.3 HIGH CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:L/A:H

Base: Exploitabilty Metrics

The Exploitability metrics reflect the characteristics of the thing that is vulnerable, which we refer to formally as the vulnerable component.

Attack Vector

This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible.

Local

The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities.

Attack Complexity

This metric describes the conditions beyond the attacker’s control that must exist in order to exploit the vulnerability.

Low

Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success when attacking the vulnerable component.

Privileges Required

This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess before successfully exploiting the vulnerability.

Low

The attacker requires privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.

User Interaction

This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable component.

None

The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any user.

Base: Scope Metrics

The Scope metric captures whether a vulnerability in one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.

Scope

Formally, a security authority is a mechanism (e.g., an application, an operating system, firmware, a sandbox environment) that defines and enforces access control in terms of how certain subjects/actors (e.g., human users, processes) can access certain restricted objects/resources (e.g., files, CPU, memory) in a controlled manner. All the subjects and objects under the jurisdiction of a single security authority are considered to be under one security scope. If a vulnerability in a vulnerable component can affect a component which is in a different security scope than the vulnerable component, a Scope change occurs. Intuitively, whenever the impact of a vulnerability breaches a security/trust boundary and impacts components outside the security scope in which vulnerable component resides, a Scope change occurs.

Changed

An exploited vulnerability can affect resources beyond the security scope managed by the security authority of the vulnerable component. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are different and managed by different security authorities.

Base: Impact Metrics

The Impact metrics capture the effects of a successfully exploited vulnerability on the component that suffers the worst outcome that is most directly and predictably associated with the attack. Analysts should constrain impacts to a reasonable, final outcome which they are confident an attacker is able to achieve.

Confidentiality Impact

This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information resources managed by a software component due to a successfully exploited vulnerability.

None

There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.

Integrity Impact

This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information.

Low

Modification of data is possible, but the attacker does not have control over the consequence of a modification, or the amount of modification is limited. The data modification does not have a direct, serious impact on the impacted component.

Availability Impact

This metric measures the impact to the availability of the impacted component resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability.

High

There is a total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Temporal Metrics

The Temporal metrics measure the current state of exploit techniques or code availability, the existence of any patches or workarounds, or the confidence in the description of a vulnerability.

Environmental Metrics

These metrics enable the analyst to customize the CVSS score depending on the importance of the affected IT asset to a user’s organization, measured in terms of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

V3.1 5.5 MEDIUM CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Base: Exploitabilty Metrics

The Exploitability metrics reflect the characteristics of the thing that is vulnerable, which we refer to formally as the vulnerable component.

Attack Vector

This metric reflects the context by which vulnerability exploitation is possible.

Local

The vulnerable component is not bound to the network stack and the attacker’s path is via read/write/execute capabilities.

Attack Complexity

This metric describes the conditions beyond the attacker’s control that must exist in order to exploit the vulnerability.

Low

Specialized access conditions or extenuating circumstances do not exist. An attacker can expect repeatable success when attacking the vulnerable component.

Privileges Required

This metric describes the level of privileges an attacker must possess before successfully exploiting the vulnerability.

Low

The attacker requires privileges that provide basic user capabilities that could normally affect only settings and files owned by a user. Alternatively, an attacker with Low privileges has the ability to access only non-sensitive resources.

User Interaction

This metric captures the requirement for a human user, other than the attacker, to participate in the successful compromise of the vulnerable component.

None

The vulnerable system can be exploited without interaction from any user.

Base: Scope Metrics

The Scope metric captures whether a vulnerability in one vulnerable component impacts resources in components beyond its security scope.

Scope

Formally, a security authority is a mechanism (e.g., an application, an operating system, firmware, a sandbox environment) that defines and enforces access control in terms of how certain subjects/actors (e.g., human users, processes) can access certain restricted objects/resources (e.g., files, CPU, memory) in a controlled manner. All the subjects and objects under the jurisdiction of a single security authority are considered to be under one security scope. If a vulnerability in a vulnerable component can affect a component which is in a different security scope than the vulnerable component, a Scope change occurs. Intuitively, whenever the impact of a vulnerability breaches a security/trust boundary and impacts components outside the security scope in which vulnerable component resides, a Scope change occurs.

Unchanged

An exploited vulnerability can only affect resources managed by the same security authority. In this case, the vulnerable component and the impacted component are either the same, or both are managed by the same security authority.

Base: Impact Metrics

The Impact metrics capture the effects of a successfully exploited vulnerability on the component that suffers the worst outcome that is most directly and predictably associated with the attack. Analysts should constrain impacts to a reasonable, final outcome which they are confident an attacker is able to achieve.

Confidentiality Impact

This metric measures the impact to the confidentiality of the information resources managed by a software component due to a successfully exploited vulnerability.

None

There is no loss of confidentiality within the impacted component.

Integrity Impact

This metric measures the impact to integrity of a successfully exploited vulnerability. Integrity refers to the trustworthiness and veracity of information.

None

There is no loss of integrity within the impacted component.

Availability Impact

This metric measures the impact to the availability of the impacted component resulting from a successfully exploited vulnerability.

High

There is a total loss of availability, resulting in the attacker being able to fully deny access to resources in the impacted component; this loss is either sustained (while the attacker continues to deliver the attack) or persistent (the condition persists even after the attack has completed). Alternatively, the attacker has the ability to deny some availability, but the loss of availability presents a direct, serious consequence to the impacted component (e.g., the attacker cannot disrupt existing connections, but can prevent new connections; the attacker can repeatedly exploit a vulnerability that, in each instance of a successful attack, leaks a only small amount of memory, but after repeated exploitation causes a service to become completely unavailable).

Temporal Metrics

The Temporal metrics measure the current state of exploit techniques or code availability, the existence of any patches or workarounds, or the confidence in the description of a vulnerability.

Environmental Metrics

These metrics enable the analyst to customize the CVSS score depending on the importance of the affected IT asset to a user’s organization, measured in terms of Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability.

nvd@nist.gov

EPSS

EPSS is a scoring model that predicts the likelihood of a vulnerability being exploited.

EPSS Score

The EPSS model produces a probability score between 0 and 1 (0 and 100%). The higher the score, the greater the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited.

EPSS Percentile

The percentile is used to rank CVE according to their EPSS score. For example, a CVE in the 95th percentile according to its EPSS score is more likely to be exploited than 95% of other CVE. Thus, the percentile is used to compare the EPSS score of a CVE with that of other CVE.

Products Mentioned

Configuraton 0

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version From (including) 5.7.1 To (excluding) 5.15.182

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version From (including) 5.16 To (excluding) 6.1.138

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version From (including) 6.2 To (excluding) 6.6.90

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version From (including) 6.7 To (excluding) 6.12.16

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version From (including) 6.13 To (excluding) 6.13.4

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version 5.7

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version 5.7

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version 5.7

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version 6.14

Linux>>Linux_kernel >> Version 6.14

References