CVE-2023-53208

Published Sep 15, 2025

Last updated 5 months ago

Overview

Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: nSVM: Load L1's TSC multiplier based on L1 state, not L2 state When emulating nested VM-Exit, load L1's TSC multiplier if L1's desired ratio doesn't match the current ratio, not if the ratio L1 is using for L2 diverges from the default. Functionally, the end result is the same as KVM will run L2 with L1's multiplier if L2's multiplier is the default, i.e. checking that L1's multiplier is loaded is equivalent to checking if L2 has a non-default multiplier. However, the assertion that TSC scaling is exposed to L1 is flawed, as userspace can trigger the WARN at will by writing the MSR and then updating guest CPUID to hide the feature (modifying guest CPUID is allowed anytime before KVM_RUN). E.g. hacking KVM's state_test selftest to do vcpu_set_msr(vcpu, MSR_AMD64_TSC_RATIO, 0); vcpu_clear_cpuid_feature(vcpu, X86_FEATURE_TSCRATEMSR); after restoring state in a new VM+vCPU yields an endless supply of: ------------[ cut here ]------------ WARNING: CPU: 10 PID: 206939 at arch/x86/kvm/svm/nested.c:1105 nested_svm_vmexit+0x6af/0x720 [kvm_amd] Call Trace: nested_svm_exit_handled+0x102/0x1f0 [kvm_amd] svm_handle_exit+0xb9/0x180 [kvm_amd] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x1eab/0x2570 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x4c9/0x5b0 [kvm] ? trace_hardirqs_off+0x4d/0xa0 __se_sys_ioctl+0x7a/0xc0 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x21/0x30 do_syscall_64+0x41/0x90 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x63/0xcd Unlike the nested VMRUN path, hoisting the svm->tsc_scaling_enabled check into the if-statement is wrong as KVM needs to ensure L1's multiplier is loaded in the above scenario. Alternatively, the WARN_ON() could simply be deleted, but that would make KVM's behavior even more subtle, e.g. it's not immediately obvious why it's safe to write MSR_AMD64_TSC_RATIO when checking only tsc_ratio_msr.
Source
416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67
NVD status
Modified
Products
linux_kernel

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
5.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
1.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
MEDIUM

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
NVD-CWE-noinfo

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations

  1. In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: coresight: tmc-etr: Fix race condition between sysfs and perf mode When trying to run perf and sysfs mode simultaneously, the WARN_ON() in tmc_etr_enable_hw() is triggered sometimes: WARNING: CPU: 42 PID: 3911571 at drivers/hwtracing/coresight/coresight-tmc-etr.c:1060 tmc_etr_enable_hw+0xc0/0xd8 [coresight_tmc] [..snip..] Call trace: tmc_etr_enable_hw+0xc0/0xd8 [coresight_tmc] (P) tmc_enable_etr_sink+0x11c/0x250 [coresight_tmc] (L) tmc_enable_etr_sink+0x11c/0x250 [coresight_tmc] coresight_enable_path+0x1c8/0x218 [coresight] coresight_enable_sysfs+0xa4/0x228 [coresight] enable_source_store+0x58/0xa8 [coresight] dev_attr_store+0x20/0x40 sysfs_kf_write+0x4c/0x68 kernfs_fop_write_iter+0x120/0x1b8 vfs_write+0x2c8/0x388 ksys_write+0x74/0x108 __arm64_sys_write+0x24/0x38 el0_svc_common.constprop.0+0x64/0x148 do_el0_svc+0x24/0x38 el0_svc+0x3c/0x130 el0t_64_sync_handler+0xc8/0xd0 el0t_64_sync+0x1ac/0x1b0 ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]--- Since the enablement of sysfs mode is separeted into two critical regions, one for sysfs buffer allocation and another for hardware enablement, it's possible to race with the perf mode. Fix this by double check whether the perf mode's been used before enabling the hardware in sysfs mode. mode: [sysfs mode] [perf mode] tmc_etr_get_sysfs_buffer() spin_lock(&drvdata->spinlock) [sysfs buffer allocation] spin_unlock(&drvdata->spinlock) spin_lock(&drvdata->spinlock) tmc_etr_enable_hw() drvdata->etr_buf = etr_perf->etr_buf spin_unlock(&drvdata->spinlock) spin_lock(&drvdata->spinlock) tmc_etr_enable_hw() WARN_ON(drvdata->etr_buf) // WARN sicne etr_buf initialized at the perf side spin_unlock(&drvdata->spinlock) With this fix, we retain the check for CS_MODE_PERF in get_etr_sysfs_buf. This ensures we verify whether the perf mode's already running before we actually allocate the buffer. Then we can save the time of allocating/freeing the sysfs buffer if race with the perf mode.CVE-2026-46272