CVE-2015-5307 (published 2015-11-16T11:59Z)

The KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel through 4.2.6, and Xen 4.3.x through 4.6.x, allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host OS panic or hang) by triggering many #AC (aka Alignment Check) exceptions, related to svm.c and vmx.c.

Severity: MEDIUM
CVSS v2 base score: 4.9 (AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C)

Weakness information:
cwe_id: CWE-399
cwe_name: Resource Management Errors
description: Weaknesses in this category are related to improper management of system resources.

Fix information:
repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
commit_details: repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
author: Eric Northup
author_date: 2015-11-03 18:03:53+01:00
msg: KVM: x86: work around infinite loop in microcode when #AC is delivered

It was found that a guest can DoS a host by triggering an infinite
stream of "alignment check" (#AC) exceptions.  This causes the
microcode to enter an infinite loop where the core never receives
another interrupt.  The host kernel panics pretty quickly due to the
effects (CVE-2015-5307).

Signed-off-by: Eric Northup <digitaleric@google.com>
Cc: stable@vger.kernel.org
Signed-off-by: Paolo Bonzini <pbonzini@redhat.com>
repository: repo_url: https://github.com/torvalds/linux
repo_name: torvalds/linux
description: Linux kernel source tree
repo_language: C
owner: torvalds
file_changes: filename: svm.h
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -100,6 +100,7 @@
 	{ SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + UD_VECTOR,       "UD excp" }, \
 	{ SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + PF_VECTOR,       "PF excp" }, \
 	{ SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + NM_VECTOR,       "NM excp" }, \
+	{ SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + AC_VECTOR,       "AC excp" }, \
 	{ SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + MC_VECTOR,       "MC excp" }, \
 	{ SVM_EXIT_INTR,        "interrupt" }, \
 	{ SVM_EXIT_NMI,         "nmi" }, \

programming_language: Shell
filename: svm.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -1019,6 +1019,7 @@ static void init_vmcb(struct vcpu_svm *svm)
 	set_exception_intercept(svm, PF_VECTOR);
 	set_exception_intercept(svm, UD_VECTOR);
 	set_exception_intercept(svm, MC_VECTOR);
+	set_exception_intercept(svm, AC_VECTOR);
 
 	set_intercept(svm, INTERCEPT_INTR);
 	set_intercept(svm, INTERCEPT_NMI);
@@ -1707,6 +1708,12 @@ static int ud_interception(struct vcpu_svm *svm)
 	return 1;
 }
 
+static int ac_interception(struct vcpu_svm *svm)
+{
+	kvm_queue_exception_e(&svm->vcpu, AC_VECTOR, 0);
+	return 1;
+}
+
 static void svm_fpu_activate(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
 {
 	struct vcpu_svm *svm = to_svm(vcpu);
@@ -3270,6 +3277,7 @@ static int (*const svm_exit_handlers[])(struct vcpu_svm *svm) = {
 	[SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + PF_VECTOR]	= pf_interception,
 	[SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + NM_VECTOR]	= nm_interception,
 	[SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + MC_VECTOR]	= mc_interception,
+	[SVM_EXIT_EXCP_BASE + AC_VECTOR]	= ac_interception,
 	[SVM_EXIT_INTR]				= intr_interception,
 	[SVM_EXIT_NMI]				= nmi_interception,
 	[SVM_EXIT_SMI]				= nop_on_interception,

programming_language: C
filename: vmx.c
change_type: ModificationType.MODIFY
diff: @@ -1639,7 +1639,7 @@ static void update_exception_bitmap(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
 	u32 eb;
 
 	eb = (1u << PF_VECTOR) | (1u << UD_VECTOR) | (1u << MC_VECTOR) |
-	     (1u << NM_VECTOR) | (1u << DB_VECTOR);
+	     (1u << NM_VECTOR) | (1u << DB_VECTOR) | (1u << AC_VECTOR);
 	if ((vcpu->guest_debug &
 	     (KVM_GUESTDBG_ENABLE | KVM_GUESTDBG_USE_SW_BP)) ==
 	    (KVM_GUESTDBG_ENABLE | KVM_GUESTDBG_USE_SW_BP))
@@ -5261,6 +5261,9 @@ static int handle_exception(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
 		return handle_rmode_exception(vcpu, ex_no, error_code);
 
 	switch (ex_no) {
+	case AC_VECTOR:
+		kvm_queue_exception_e(vcpu, AC_VECTOR, error_code);
+		return 1;
 	case DB_VECTOR:
 		dr6 = vmcs_readl(EXIT_QUALIFICATION);
 		if (!(vcpu->guest_debug &

programming_language: C