CVE-2022-49882 | KVM: Reject attempts to consume or refresh inactive gfn_to_pfn_cache

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: Reject attempts to consume or refresh inactive gfn_to_pfn_cache Reject kvm_gpc_check() and kvm_gpc_refresh() if the cache is inactive. Not checking the active flag during refresh is particularly egregious, as KVM can end up with a valid, inactive cache, which can lead to a variety of use-after-free bugs, e.g. consuming a NULL kernel pointer or missing an mmu_notifier invalidation due to the cache not being on the list of gfns to invalidate. Note, "active" needs to be set if and only if the cache is on the list of caches, i.e. is reachable via mmu_notifier events. If a relevant mmu_notifier event occurs while the cache is "active" but not on the list, KVM will not acquire the cache's lock and so will not serailize the mmu_notifier event with active users and/or kvm_gpc_refresh(). A race between KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO and KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND can be exploited to trigger the bug. 1. Deactivate shinfo cache: kvm_xen_hvm_set_attr case KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO kvm_gpc_deactivate kvm_gpc_unmap gpc->valid = false gpc->khva = NULL gpc->active = false Result: active = false, valid = false 2. Cause cache refresh: kvm_arch_vm_ioctl case KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND kvm_xen_hvm_evtchn_send kvm_xen_set_evtchn kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast kvm_gpc_check return -EWOULDBLOCK because !gpc->valid kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast return -EWOULDBLOCK kvm_gpc_refresh hva_to_pfn_retry gpc->valid = true gpc->khva = not NULL Result: active = false, valid = true 3. Race ioctl KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND against ioctl KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO: kvm_arch_vm_ioctl case KVM_XEN_HVM_EVTCHN_SEND kvm_xen_hvm_evtchn_send kvm_xen_set_evtchn kvm_xen_set_evtchn_fast read_lock gpc->lock kvm_xen_hvm_set_attr case KVM_XEN_ATTR_TYPE_SHARED_INFO mutex_lock kvm->lock kvm_xen_shared_info_init kvm_gpc_activate gpc->khva = NULL kvm_gpc_check [ Check passes because gpc->valid is still true, even though gpc->khva is already NULL. ] shinfo = gpc->khva pending_bits = shinfo->evtchn_pending CRASH: test_and_set_bit(..., pending_bits)

Published: 2025-05-01 Last update: 2025-11-10 Assigner: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 Source: 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2022-49882 is rated Low Risk (39.3/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2022-49882

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-02-25 0.02% 0.08% +0.06%
2 2025-05-02 0.02%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2022-49882

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2022-49882

OS Trackers for CVE-2022-49882

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2022-49882 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2022-49882
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49882
suse medium CVE-2022-49882 severity moderate: SUSE including 55 source package names (bpftool-7.2.0-362.8.1.el9_3, cluster-md-kmp-default, …), 293 product×package rows across 52 product lines (SLES-LTSS-TERADATA 15 SP2, SUSE Liberty Linux 9, … (52 product lines)): Known Not Affected 264, Fixed 29. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2022-49882/
ubuntu medium CVE-2022-49882 medium priority: Ubuntu including 144 source packages (linux, linux-allwinner-5.19, …), 1285 status rows across 9 suites (bionic, focal, jammy, noble, oracular, plucky, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 921, ignored 146, not-affected 140, released 78. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2022-49882

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2022-49882

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 5.17, < 6.0.8 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel 6.1 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:6.1:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2022-49882

cvelogic Threat Intelligence