Vulnerability · Published May 1, 2025 · Assigned by Linux

CVE-2022-49781perf/x86/amd: Fix crash due to race between amd_pmu_enable_all, perf NMI and throttling

Medium 4.7

In plain English

A medium-severity security flaw in Linux from Linux. There are no confirmed reports of exploitation so far. The chance it is exploited in the next 30 days is estimated at 0.1% (higher than 2% of all known vulnerabilities). Fixed versions are available - upgrade the affected package.

Severity (CVSS NVD)4.7Medium
Exploit odds (30 days)0.1%top 98.2% of all CVEs
Exploited in the wildNo reportsCISA SSVC: none
Attack toolingNoneno public tooling known

Official description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: perf/x86/amd: Fix crash due to race between amd_pmu_enable_all, perf NMI and throttling amd_pmu_enable_all() does: if (!test_bit(idx, cpuc->active_mask)) continue; amd_pmu_enable_event(cpuc->events[idx]); A perf NMI of another event can come between these two steps. Perf NMI handler internally disables and enables _all_ events, including the one which nmi-intercepted amd_pmu_enable_all() was in process of enabling. If that unintentionally enabled event has very low sampling period and causes immediate successive NMI, causing the event to be throttled, cpuc->events[idx] and cpuc->active_mask gets cleared by x86_pmu_stop(). This will result in amd_pmu_enable_event() getting called with event=NULL when amd_pmu_enable_all() resumes after handling the NMIs. This causes a kernel crash: BUG: kernel NULL pointer dereference, address: 0000000000000198 #PF: supervisor read access in kernel mode #PF: error_code(0x0000) - not-present page [...] Call Trace: <TASK> amd_pmu_enable_all+0x68/0xb0 ctx_resched+0xd9/0x150 event_function+0xb8/0x130 ? hrtimer_start_range_ns+0x141/0x4a0 ? perf_duration_warn+0x30/0x30 remote_function+0x4d/0x60 __flush_smp_call_function_queue+0xc4/0x500 flush_smp_call_function_queue+0x11d/0x1b0 do_idle+0x18f/0x2d0 cpu_startup_entry+0x19/0x20 start_secondary+0x121/0x160 secondary_startup_64_no_verify+0xe5/0xeb </TASK> amd_pmu_disable_all()/amd_pmu_enable_all() calls inside perf NMI handler were recently added as part of BRS enablement but I'm not sure whether we really need them. We can just disable BRS in the beginning and enable it back while returning from NMI. This will solve the issue by not enabling those events whose active_masks are set but are not yet enabled in hw pmu.

Affected packages & fixed versions

EcosystemPackageFixed inAdvisory
Debian:12linux6.0.10-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49781
Debian:13linux6.0.10-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49781
Debian:14linux6.0.10-1DEBIAN-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-allwinner-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-aws-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-azure-fde-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-gcp-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-intel-iot-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-lowlatency-hwe-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-nvidia-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-5.17no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.0no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.1no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oem-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-oracle-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-raspi-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:24.04:LTSlinux-realtimeno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscvno fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-riscv-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-5.19no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.2no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781
Ubuntu:22.04:LTSlinux-starfive-6.5no fix listedUBUNTU-CVE-2022-49781

Affected products (as reported)

VendorProductVersions
Linux Linux ada543459cab7f653dcacdaba4011a8bb19c627c – before fd5e454b856ed86b090336e269695d9908609b71ada543459cab7f653dcacdaba4011a8bb19c627c – before baa014b9543c8e5e94f5d15b66abfe60750b8284
Linux Linux 5.19

References