Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SVM: Reject SEV{-ES}...
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: SVM: Reject SEV{-ES} intra host migration if vCPU creation is in-flight
Reject migration of SEV{-ES} state if either the source or destination VM
is actively creating a vCPU, i.e. if kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu() is in the
section between incrementing created_vcpus and online_vcpus. The bulk of
vCPU creation runs outside of kvm->lock to allow creating multiple vCPUs
in parallel, and so sev_info.es_active can get toggled from false=>true in
the destination VM after (or during) svm_vcpu_create(), resulting in an
SEV{-ES} VM effectively having a non-SEV{-ES} vCPU.
The issue manifests most visibly as a crash when trying to free a vCPU's
NULL VMSA page in an SEV-ES VM, but any number of things can go wrong.
BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ffffebde00000000
#PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode
#PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page
PGD 0 P4D 0
Oops: Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP KASAN NOPTI
CPU: 227 UID: 0 PID: 64063 Comm: syz.5.60023 Tainted: G U O 6.15.0-smp-DEV #2 NONE
Tainted: [U]=USER, [O]=OOT_MODULE
Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 12.52.0-0 10/28/2024
RIP: 0010:constant_test_bit arch/x86/include/asm/bitops.h:206 [inline]
RIP: 0010:arch_test_bit arch/x86/include/asm/bitops.h:238 [inline]
RIP: 0010:_test_bit include/asm-generic/bitops/instrumented-non-atomic.h:142 [inline]
RIP: 0010:PageHead include/linux/page-flags.h:866 [inline]
RIP: 0010:___free_pages+0x3e/0x120 mm/page_alloc.c:5067
Code: <49> f7 06 40 00 00 00 75 05 45 31 ff eb 0c 66 90 4c 89 f0 4c 39 f0
RSP: 0018:ffff8984551978d0 EFLAGS: 00010246
RAX: 0000777f80000001 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: ffffffff918aeb98
RDX: 0000000000000000 RSI: 0000000000000008 RDI: ffffebde00000000
RBP: 0000000000000000 R08: ffffebde00000007 R09: 1ffffd7bc0000000
R10: dffffc0000000000 R11: fffff97bc0000001 R12: dffffc0000000000
R13: ffff8983e19751a8 R14: ffffebde00000000 R15: 1ffffd7bc0000000
FS: 0000000000000000(0000) GS:ffff89ee661d3000(0000) knlGS:0000000000000000
CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033
CR2: ffffebde00000000 CR3: 000000793ceaa000 CR4: 0000000000350ef0
DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000b5f DR2: 0000000000000000
DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000400
Call Trace:
sev_free_vcpu+0x413/0x630 arch/x86/kvm/svm/sev.c:3169
svm_vcpu_free+0x13a/0x2a0 arch/x86/kvm/svm/svm.c:1515
kvm_arch_vcpu_destroy+0x6a/0x1d0 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12396
kvm_vcpu_destroy virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:470 [inline]
kvm_destroy_vcpus+0xd1/0x300 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:490
kvm_arch_destroy_vm+0x636/0x820 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:12895
kvm_put_kvm+0xb8e/0xfb0 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1310
kvm_vm_release+0x48/0x60 virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:1369
__fput+0x3e4/0x9e0 fs/file_table.c:465
task_work_run+0x1a9/0x220 kernel/task_work.c:227
exit_task_work include/linux/task_work.h:40 [inline]
do_exit+0x7f0/0x25b0 kernel/exit.c:953
do_group_exit+0x203/0x2d0 kernel/exit.c:1102
get_signal+0x1357/0x1480 kernel/signal.c:3034
arch_do_signal_or_restart+0x40/0x690 arch/x86/kernel/signal.c:337
exit_to_user_mode_loop kernel/entry/common.c:111 [inline]
exit_to_user_mode_prepare include/linux/entry-common.h:329 [inline]
__syscall_exit_to_user_mode_work kernel/entry/common.c:207 [inline]
syscall_exit_to_user_mode+0x67/0xb0 kernel/entry/common.c:218
do_syscall_64+0x7c/0x150 arch/x86/entry/syscall_64.c:100
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e
RIP: 0033:0x7f87a898e969
Modules linked in: gq(O)
gsmi: Log Shutdown Reason 0x03
CR2: ffffebde00000000
---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---
Deliberately don't check for a NULL VMSA when freeing the vCPU, as crashing
the host is likely desirable due to the VMSA being consumed by hardware.
E.g. if KVM manages to allow VMRUN on the vCPU, hardware may read/write a
bogus VMSA page. Accessing P
---truncated---
Impact
The application dereferences a null pointer, causing a crash. Typical impact: denial of service via crash.
CVE-2025-38455 has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). The vector is requires local access, low privileges required, and no user interaction. A CVSS score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether this affects your application depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable in your environment. No fixed version is listed yet, so configuration controls and monitoring matter more in the interim.
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2025-38455? CVE-2025-38455 is a medium-severity null pointer dereference vulnerability. No fixed version is listed yet. The application dereferences a null pointer, causing a crash.
- How severe is CVE-2025-38455? CVE-2025-38455 has a CVSS score of 5.5 (Medium). This score reflects the worst-case severity of the vulnerability, not your specific exposure. Whether it represents real risk in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2025-38455? No fixed version is listed for CVE-2025-38455 yet. Monitor the advisory for updates and apply mitigations in the interim.
- Is CVE-2025-38455 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2025-38455 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2025-38455 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.