Import Source
https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData/blob/main/osv/AZL-72497.json
JSON Data
https://api.test.osv.dev/v1/vulns/AZL-72497
Upstream
Published
2025-12-16T15:15:55Z
Modified
2026-04-01T05:22:10.476305Z
Summary
CVE-2025-68259 affecting package kernel for versions less than 6.6.121.1-1
Details

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

KVM: SVM: Don't skip unrelated instruction if INT3/INTO is replaced

When re-injecting a soft interrupt from an INT3, INT0, or (select) INTn instruction, discard the exception and retry the instruction if the code stream is changed (e.g. by a different vCPU) between when the CPU executes the instruction and when KVM decodes the instruction to get the next RIP.

As effectively predicted by commit 6ef88d6e36c2 ("KVM: SVM: Re-inject INT3/INTO instead of retrying the instruction"), failure to verify that the correct INTn instruction was decoded can effectively clobber guest state due to decoding the wrong instruction and thus specifying the wrong next RIP.

The bug most often manifests as "Oops: int3" panics on static branch checks in Linux guests. Enabling or disabling a static branch in Linux uses the kernel's "text poke" code patching mechanism. To modify code while other CPUs may be executing that code, Linux (temporarily) replaces the first byte of the original instruction with an int3 (opcode 0xcc), then patches in the new code stream except for the first byte, and finally replaces the int3 with the first byte of the new code stream. If a CPU hits the int3, i.e. executes the code while it's being modified, then the guest kernel must look up the RIP to determine how to handle the #BP, e.g. by emulating the new instruction. If the RIP is incorrect, then this lookup fails and the guest kernel panics.

The bug reproduces almost instantly by hacking the guest kernel to repeatedly check a static branch[1] while running a drgn script[2] on the host to constantly swap out the memory containing the guest's TSS.

References

Affected packages

Azure Linux:3 / kernel

Package

Name
kernel
Purl
pkg:rpm/azure-linux/kernel

Affected ranges

Type
ECOSYSTEM
Events
Introduced
0Unknown introduced version / All previous versions are affected
Fixed
6.6.121.1-1

Database specific

source
"https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData/blob/main/osv/AZL-72497.json"