8.8

CVE-2021-4440: x86/xen: Drop USERGS_SYSRET64 paravirt call

Analyzed
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2021-4440DEBIAN-CVE-2021-4440
Published 25-06-2024Last modified 11-05-2026

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2021-4440 is a high (CVSS 8.8) Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability in linux. EPSS estimates a 0.22% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 13.1% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 8.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
8.8/10
010
High · v3.1 (CVE.org)
EPSS score
0.22%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 3 · Related 3
SUSE-SU-2024:3189-1SUSE-SU-2024:3251-1SUSE-SU-2024:3252-1

Timeline

  1. 25-06-2024
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 11-05-2026
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/xen: Drop USERGS_SYSRET64 paravirt call commit afd30525a659ac0ae0904f0cb4a2ca75522c3123 upstream. USERGS_SYSRET64 is used to return from a syscall via SYSRET, but a Xen PV guest will nevertheless use the IRET hypercall, as there is no sysret PV hypercall defined. So instead of testing all the prerequisites for doing a sysret and then mangling the stack for Xen PV again for doing an iret just use the iret exit from the beginning. This can easily be done via an ALTERNATIVE like it is done for the sysenter compat case already. It should be noted that this drops the optimization in Xen for not restoring a few registers when returning to user mode, but it seems as if the saved instructions in the kernel more than compensate for this drop (a kernel build in a Xen PV guest was slightly faster with this patch applied). While at it remove the stale sysret32 remnants. [ pawan: Brad Spengler and Salvatore Bonaccorso <carnil@debian.org> reported a problem with the 5.10 backport commit edc702b4a820 ("x86/entry_64: Add VERW just before userspace transition"). When CONFIG_PARAVIRT_XXL=y, CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS is not executed in syscall_return_via_sysret path as USERGS_SYSRET64 is runtime patched to: .cpu_usergs_sysret64 = { 0x0f, 0x01, 0xf8, 0x48, 0x0f, 0x07 }, // swapgs; sysretq which is missing CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS. It turns out dropping USERGS_SYSRET64 simplifies the code, allowing CLEAR_CPU_BUFFERS to be explicitly added to syscall_return_via_sysret path. Below is with CONFIG_PARAVIRT_XXL=y and this patch applied: syscall_return_via_sysret: ... <+342>: swapgs <+345>: xchg %ax,%ax <+347>: verw -0x1a2(%rip) <------ <+354>: sysretq ]

CVSS metrics

5 scores · 4 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

0.22%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

13%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 0.22% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Ubuntu91 products
  • linuxAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-allwinner-5.19All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-awsAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.0All versions (No fix recorded)
  • linux-aws-5.11All versions (No fix recorded)
Linux2 products
  • linux≥ cea750c99d8f6391080c420f811a46b21bad7cf4, < 1424ab4bb386df9cc590c73afa55f13e9b00dea2 | ≥ 5.10.215, < 5.10.218
  • linux_kernel≥ 5.10.215, < 5.10.218
Debian1 product
  • linux< 5.10.218-1

3 vendors · 94 products

References

5 links