Security restrictions bypass in Linux kernel - CVE-2021-3653
Published: September 28, 2021
Linux kernel
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a malicious guest to escalate privileges on the system.
The vulnerability exists due to improperly imposed security restrictions within the KVM's AMD code for supporting SVM nested virtualization. The flaw occurs when processing the VMCB (virtual machine control block) provided by the L1 guest to spawn/handle a nested guest (L2). Due to improper validation of the "int_ctl" field, this issue could allow a malicious L1 to enable AVIC support (Advanced Virtual Interrupt Controller) for the L2 guest.
As a result, the L2 guest would be allowed to read/write physical pages of the host, resulting in a crash of the entire system, leak of sensitive data or potential guest-to-host escape.