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Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2024-53135 json

KVM: VMX: Bury Intel PT virtualization (guest/host mode) behind CONFIG_BROKEN

published 2024-12-04 23 mo ago modified 2026-10-15 24 d ago also EUVD-2024-51807

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.2%
EPSS 0.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 15%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: VMX: Bury Intel PT virtualization (guest/host mode) behind CONFIG_BROKEN

Hide KVM's pt_mode module param behind CONFIG_BROKEN, i.e. disable support for virtualizing Intel PT via guest/host mode unless BROKEN=y. There are myriad bugs in the implementation, some of which are fatal to the guest, and others which put the stability and health of the host at risk.

For guest fatalities, the most glaring issue is that KVM fails to ensure tracing is disabled, and *stays* disabled prior to VM-Enter, which is necessary as hardware disallows loading (the guest's) RTIT_CTL if tracing is enabled (enforced via a VMX consistency check). Per the SDM:

If the logical processor is operating with Intel PT enabled (if IA32_RTIT_CTL.TraceEn = 1) at the time of VM entry, the "load IA32_RTIT_CTL" VM-entry control must be 0.

On the host side, KVM doesn't validate the guest CPUID configuration provided by userspace, and even worse, uses the guest configuration to decide what MSRs to save/load at VM-Enter and VM-Exit. E.g. configuring guest CPUID to enumerate more address ranges than are supported in hardware will result in KVM trying to passthrough, save, and load non-existent MSRs, which generates a variety of WARNs, ToPA ERRORs in the host, a potential deadlock, etc.

Patch / fix

  • Linux Linux 5.4.287, 5.10.231, 5.15.174, 6.1.119, 6.6.63, 6.11.10, 6.12
  • linux Debian 12 6.1.119-1
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13 6.11.10-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2024-53135

  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-211.231
  • linux Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-135.146
  • linux Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-58.60
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1142.152
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1080.87
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 24.04 LTS 6.8.0-1027.29
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1145.154
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 22.04 LTS 5.15.0-1079.88

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2024-53135

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • rv RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • perf RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • rtla RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • libperf RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-rt RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-64k RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-core RHEL 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7

red hat advisories RHSA-2025:20518

  • dtb-aarch64 openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-64kb SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-syms SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-source SLE Module for Development Tools 15 SP6, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-default SLE Workstation Extension 15 SP6, SLE Module for Legacy 15 SP6, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP6 +3 more 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-kvmsmall openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1
  • kernel-zfcpdump SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP6, openSUSE Leap 15.6 6.4.0-150600.23.53.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2025:02000-1SUSE-SU-2025:20413-1SUSE-SU-2025:01965-1SUSE-SU-2025:01964-1SUSE-SU-2025:20421-1SUSE-SU-2025:20408-1

  • kernel AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • rv AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • perf AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • rtla AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • libperf AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-rt AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-64k AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7
  • kernel-core AlmaLinux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7

almalinux advisories ALSA-2025:20518

  • kernel Rocky Linux 9 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2025:20518

  • kernel Azure Linux 3.0 6.6.64.2-1
  • kernel CBL-Mariner 2.0 5.15.176.3-1

azure linux advisories AZL-54141AZL-54200

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2024-53135 updated cvss 6.5

kernel: KVM: VMX: Bury Intel PT virtualization (guest/host mode) behind CONFIG_BROKEN

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AppStream (v. 9) rv 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, perf 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, rtla 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, python3-perf 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-devel-matched 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-64k-devel-matched 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +7 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 9) kernel 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-64k 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-tools 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-64k-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +27 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 9) libperf 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-64k 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-64k-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +14 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 9) kernel-rt 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-debug-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-modules-core 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, kernel-rt-debug-modules 5.14.0-611.5.1.el9_7, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2025:20518
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
24 d ago

Exploit prediction

0.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 15% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 6.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

Affected products

  • Linux Linux

Classification

Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.