RCE in Linux Kernel

CVE-2022-2196

A regression exists in the Linux Kernel within KVM: nVMX that allowed for speculative execution attacks. L2 can carry out Spectre v2 attacks on L1 due to L1 thinking it doesn't need retpolines or IBPB after running L2 due to KVM (L0) advertising eIBRS support to L1. An attacker at L2 with code execution can execute code on an indirect branch on the host machine. We recommend upgrading to Kernel 6.2 or applying the relevant stable backports (v5.4.233, v5.10.170, v5.15.96, v6.1.14).

Published · last modified .

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.8 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:L.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.003 (18.9th percentile), scored .

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 19th percentile — 18.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS trend (30 days)EPSS over the last 30 days for CVE-2022-2196: held from 0.003 to 0.003.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.003 · newest: 0.003 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-2196?
CVE-2022-2196 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Initialization of a Resource with an Insecure Default. CVSS score: 5.8/10. Published 2023-01-09.
How severe is CVE-2022-2196?
Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.8 out of 10.
Is CVE-2022-2196 known to be exploited?
1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.