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CVE-2021-4440

CVE.org · Published

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Record status
Published
Identifier year (not publication year)
2021
Source publication
Source updated
Imported by cveboard
Source snapshot
cve_2026-10-24_midnight_baseline ·

Plain text

CNA source text (English)

x86/xen: Drop USERGS_SYSRET64 paravirt call

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/xen: Drop USERGS_SYSRET64 paravirt call commit afd30525a659ac0ae0904f0cb4a2ca75522c3123 upstream. USERGS_SYSRET64 is used to return from a syscall via SYSRET, but a Xen PV guest will nevertheless use the IRET hypercall, as there is no sysret PV hypercall defined. So instead of testing all the prerequisites for doing a sysret and then mangling the stack for Xen PV again for doing an iret just use the iret exit from the beginning. This can easily be done via an ALTERNATIVE like it is done for the sysenter compat case already. It should be noted that this drops the optimization in Xen for not restoring a few registers when returning to user mode, but it seems as if the saved instructions in the kernel more than compensate for this drop (a kernel build in a Xen PV guest was slightly faster with this patch applied). While at it remove the stale sysret32 remnants. [ pawan: Brad Spengler and Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil@debian.org> reported a problem with the 5.10 backport commit edc702b4a820 ("x86/entry_64: Add VERW just before userspace transition"). When CONFIG_PARAVIRT_XXL=y, CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS is not executed in syscall_return_via_sysret path as USERGS_SYSRET64 is runtime patched to: .cpu_usergs_sysret64 = { 0x0f, 0x01, 0xf8, 0x48, 0x0f, 0x07 }, // swapgs; sysretq which is missing CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS. It turns out dropping USERGS_SYSRET64 simplifies the code, allowing CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS to be explicitly added to syscall_return_via_sysret path. Below is with CONFIG_PARAVIRT_XXL=y and this patch applied: syscall_return_via_sysret: ... <+342>: swapgs <+345>: xchg %ax,%ax <+347>: verw -0x1a2(%rip) <------ <+354>: sysretq ]

Scoped product and version facts

Fix information unknown; no fixed version is derived here. Missing information does not prove that no fix exists.

Exploitation unknown; this catalogue does not assess exploitation.

Linux

Vendor
Linux
Product
Linux
Platforms
Unknown
Default status
unaffected
Linux · Scoped product and version facts
Version (version)Status (status)Version scheme (versionType)Exclusive end (lessThan)Inclusive end (lessThanOrEqual)Status changes (at → status)
cea750c99d8f6391080c420f811a46b21bad7cf4affectedgit1424ab4bb386df9cc590c73afa55f13e9b00dea2UnavailableNone listed

Linux

Vendor
Linux
Product
Linux
Platforms
Unknown
Default status
unaffected
Linux · Scoped product and version facts
Version (version)Status (status)Version scheme (versionType)Exclusive end (lessThan)Inclusive end (lessThanOrEqual)Status changes (at → status)
5.10.215affectedsemver5.10.218UnavailableNone listed