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Linux

CVE-2025-71089

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: iommu: disable SVA when CONFIG_X86 is set Patch series "Fix stale IOTLB entries for kernel address space", v7. This proposes a fix for a security vulnerability related to IOMMU Shared Virtual Addressing (SVA). In an SVA context, an IOMMU can cache kernel page table entries. When a kernel page table page is freed and reallocated for another purpose, the IOMMU might still hold stale, incorrect entries. This can be exploited to cause a use-after-free or write-after-free condition, potentially leading to privilege escalation or data corruption. This solution introduces a deferred freeing mechanism for kernel page table pages, which provides a safe window to notify the IOMMU to invalidate its caches before the page is reused. This patch (of 8): In the IOMMU Shared Virtual Addressing (SVA) context, the IOMMU hardware shares and walks the CPU's page tables. The x86 architecture maps the kernel's virtual address space into the upper portion of every process's page table. Consequently, in an SVA context, the IOMMU hardware can walk and cache kernel page table entries. The Linux kernel currently lacks a notification mechanism for kernel page table changes, specifically when page table pages are freed and reused. The IOMMU driver is only notified of changes to user virtual address mappings. This can cause the IOMMU's internal caches to retain stale entries for kernel VA. Use-After-Free (UAF) and Write-After-Free (WAF) conditions arise when kernel page table pages are freed and later reallocated. The IOMMU could misinterpret the new data as valid page table entries. The IOMMU might then walk into attacker-controlled memory, leading to arbitrary physical memory DMA access or privilege escalation. This is also a Write-After-Free issue, as the IOMMU will potentially continue to write Accessed and Dirty bits to the freed memory while attempting to walk the stale page tables. Currently, SVA contexts are unprivileged and cannot access kernel mappings. However, the IOMMU will still walk kernel-only page tables all the way down to the leaf entries, where it realizes the mapping is for the kernel and errors out. This means the IOMMU still caches these intermediate page table entries, making the described vulnerability a real concern. Disable SVA on x86 architecture until the IOMMU can receive notification to flush the paging cache before freeing the CPU kernel page table pages.

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cvss
common vulnerability scoring system v3.1. measures intrinsic severity on a 0-10 scale.
epss 0.0001
exploitation prediction scoring system. probability this vulnerability will be exploited in the wild in the next 30 days.
kev no
cisa known exploited vulnerabilities catalog. confirmed active exploitation.
CVSS 3.1 Common Vulnerability Scoring System v3.1
7.8 / 10
HIGH
exploitability
Attack Vector
Local
Attack Vector (AV:L): requires local access. attacker must have shell access or physical login.
Attack Complexity
High
Attack Complexity (AC:H): exploitation requires specific conditions outside the attacker's control (race condition, non-default config, etc).
Privileges Required
Low
Privileges Required (PR:L): requires basic user-level access.
User Interaction
None
User Interaction (UI:N): no victim action needed. fully exploitable without user interaction.
impact
Scope
Changed
Scope (S:C): exploitation impacts resources beyond the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality
High
Confidentiality (C:H): total information disclosure. attacker gains access to all data within the component.
Integrity
High
Integrity (I:H): complete data modification possible. attacker can modify any data.
Availability
High
Availability (A:H): total denial of service. attacker can fully shut down the resource.
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
exploit detect attrib advisory media timeline
activity density
rdintel assessment
2 threat composite score from 15+ signals including exploitation status, epss probability, detection coverage, and community attention. 0-100 scale.

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