Impact
The Linux kernel’s vhost virtualization framework contains a flaw that fails to reset the vring metadata cache when a device IOTLB is reconfigured. This omission leads to a buffer validation (CWE‑825) weakness, allowing a local attacker to trigger out‑of‑bounds memory accesses. By issuing VHOST_SET_VRING_ADDR or VHOST_SET_VRING_NUM ioctl calls while a device IOTLB is attached, the attacker can manipulate the stale cache, causing the kernel to translate a guest virtual address through an invalid mapping, corrupt kernel memory and potentially execute arbitrary code.
Affected Systems
All Linux kernel builds that include the vhost module and use device IOTLBs are potentially affected. The vulnerability is not tied to a specific release number; any recent kernel containing the unpatched vhost code that performs VRing reconfiguration while a device IOTLB is attached is vulnerable.
Risk and Exploitability
The likely attack vector is the local ioctl interface to vhost devices, requiring the attacker to have the ability to send ioctl requests to the device. No publicly available exploits have been reported. The EPSS score is < 1%, indicating a very low probability of exploitation; the CVSS score of 8.8 indicates high severity. The risk is moderate to high for systems that can interact with vhost devices and perform VRing reconfigurations. The vulnerability is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
OpenCVE Enrichment
Debian DLA
Debian DSA