CVE-2026-31593: KVM: SEV: Reject attempts to sync VMSA of an already-launched/encrypted vCPU

Severity: medium (CVSS 5.5 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 0.1% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2026-04-24 · updated 2026-06-17

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: KVM: SEV: Reject attempts to sync VMSA of an already-launched/encrypted vCPU Reject synchronizing vCPU state to its associated VMSA if the vCPU has already been launched, i.e. if the VMSA has already been encrypted. On a host with SNP enabled, accessing guest-private memory generates an RMP #PF and panics the host. BUG: unable to handle page fault for address: ff1276cbfdf36000 #PF: supervisor write access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x80000003) - RMP violation PGD 5a31801067 P4D 5a31802067 PUD 40ccfb5063 PMD 40e5954063 PTE 80000040fdf36163 SEV-SNP: PFN 0x40fdf36, RMP entry: [0x6010fffffffff001 - 0x000000000000001f] Oops: Oops: 0003 [#1] SMP NOPTI CPU: 33 UID: 0 PID: 996180 Comm: qemu-system-x86 Tainted: G OE Tainted: [O]=OOT_MODULE, [E]=UNSIGNED_MODULE Hardware name: Dell Inc. PowerEdge R7625/0H1TJT, BIOS 1.5.8 07/21/2023 RIP: 0010:sev_es_sync_vmsa+0x54/0x4c0 [kvm_amd] Call Trace: <TASK> snp_launch_update_vmsa+0x19d/0x290 [kvm_amd] snp_launch_finish+0xb6/0x380 [kvm_amd] sev_mem_enc_ioctl+0x14e/0x720 [kvm_amd] kvm_arch_vm_ioctl+0x837/0xcf0 [kvm] kvm_vm_ioctl+0x3fd/0xcc0 [kvm] __x64_sys_ioctl+0xa3/0x100 x64_sys_call+0xfe0/0x2350 do_syscall_64+0x81/0x10f0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x76/0x7e RIP: 0033:0x7ffff673287d </TASK> Note, the KVM flaw has been present since commit ad73109ae7ec ("KVM: SVM: Provide support to launch and run an SEV-ES guest"), but has only been actively dangerous for the host since SNP support was added. With SEV-ES, KVM would "just" clobber guest state, which is totally fine from a host kernel perspective since userspace can clobber guest state any time before sev_launch_update_vmsa().

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 6.11 before 6.12.83; from 6.13 before 6.18.24; from 6.19 before 6.19.14; from 7.0 before 7.0.1 — fixed in 6.12.83, 6.18.24, 6.19.14, 7.0.1

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 6.12.83, 6.18.24, 6.19.14, 7.0.1. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

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