CVE-2025-40026
- Published: 2025-10-28T10:15:42.167
- Last modified: 1761747352
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
KVM: x86: Don’t (re)check L1 intercepts when completing userspace I/O
When completing emulation of instruction that generated a userspace exit
for I/O, don’t recheck L1 intercepts as KVM has already finished that
phase of instruction execution, i.e. has already committed to allowing L2
to perform I/O. If L1 (or host userspace) modifies the I/O permission
bitmaps during the exit to userspace, KVM will treat the access as being
intercepted despite already having emulated the I/O access.
Pivot on EMULTYPE_NO_DECODE to detect that KVM is completing emulation.
Of the three users of EMULTYPE_NO_DECODE, only complete_emulated_io() (the
intended “recipient”) can reach the code in question. gp_interception()’s
use is mutually exclusive with is_guest_mode(), and
complete_emulated_insn_gp() unconditionally pairs EMULTYPE_NO_DECODE with
EMULTYPE_SKIP.
The bad behavior was detected by a syzkaller program that toggles port I/O
interception during the userspace I/O exit, ultimately resulting in a WARN
on vcpu->arch.pio.count being non-zero due to KVM no completing emulation
of the I/O instruction.
WARNING: CPU: 23 PID: 1083 at arch/x86/kvm/x86.c:8039 emulator_pio_in_out+0x154/0x170 [kvm]
Modules linked in: kvm_intel kvm irqbypass
CPU: 23 UID: 1000 PID: 1083 Comm: repro Not tainted 6.16.0-rc5-c1610d2d66b1-next-vm #74 NONE
Hardware name: QEMU Standard PC (Q35 + ICH9, 2009), BIOS 0.0.0 02/06/2015
RIP: 0010:emulator_pio_in_out+0x154/0x170 [kvm]
PKRU: 55555554
Call Trace:
kvm_fast_pio+0xd6/0x1d0 [kvm]
vmx_handle_exit+0x149/0x610 [kvm_intel]
kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0xda8/0x1ac0 [kvm]
kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x244/0x8c0 [kvm]
__x64_sys_ioctl+0x8a/0xd0
do_syscall_64+0x5d/0xc60
entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x4b/0x53
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How to fix CVE-2025-40026
Description: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: x86: Don’t (re)check L1 intercepts when completing userspace I/O When completing emulation of instruction that generated a userspace exit for I/O, don’t recheck L1 intercepts as KVM has already finished that phase of instruction execution, i.e. has already committed to allowing L2 to perform […]
Exploit Difficulty: HARD
⏱️ Time to exploit: > 4 hours
🛠️ Required skills: Advanced security expertise
💰 Public exploits: Rare or not public
How to Fix:
- Check if you're running the affected product
- Update to the latest patched version
- If patching is not immediately possible: restrict network exposure, apply least-privilege access
- Test the fix in a staging environment first
- Review logs for signs of exploitation
- Monitor for IOCs (Indicators of Compromise)
- Enable automatic security updates
- Set up vulnerability monitoring
- Review and harden security configurations
Exploit Difficulty Assessment
Vulnerability Timeline
CVE details first published to NVD database
CVE details were updated
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Detection Rules & IOCs
No specific detection rules generated for this vulnerability type.
No vendor/product data available.