CVE-2025-38508

x86/sev: Use TSC_FACTOR for Secure TSC frequency calculation

HIGH 7.3

At a glance

Source
NVD
EPSS
EPSS 0.13 % · percentile 3 ()
State
PUBLISHED
Published
Updated
Assigner
Linux
NVD status
Modified

Description

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/sev: Use TSC_FACTOR for Secure TSC frequency calculation When using Secure TSC, the GUEST_TSC_FREQ MSR reports a frequency based on the nominal P0 frequency, which deviates slightly (typically ~0.2%) from the actual mean TSC frequency due to clocking parameters. Over extended VM uptime, this discrepancy accumulates, causing clock skew between the hypervisor and a SEV-SNP VM, leading to early timer interrupts as perceived by the guest. The guest kernel relies on the reported nominal frequency for TSC-based timekeeping, while the actual frequency set during SNP_LAUNCH_START may differ. This mismatch results in inaccurate time calculations, causing the guest to perceive hrtimers as firing earlier than expected. Utilize the TSC_FACTOR from the SEV firmware's secrets page (see "Secrets Page Format" in the SNP Firmware ABI Specification) to calculate the mean TSC frequency, ensuring accurate timekeeping and mitigating clock skew in SEV-SNP VMs. Use early_ioremap_encrypted() to map the secrets page as ioremap_encrypted() uses kmalloc() which is not available during early TSC initialization and causes a panic. [ bp: Drop the silly dummy var: https://lore.kernel.org/r/20250630192726.GBaGLlHl84xIopx4Pt@fat_crate.local ]

References

Scores

VersionScoreVectorScored by
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.3CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:HLinux
CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.3CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:HNVD · 416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67 (Secondary)
CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:HNVD · nvd@nist.gov (Primary)

European references

CERT-FR advisories

Affected configurations (NVD CPE)

Affected products

ProductVersions
Linux · Linuxaffected 73bbf3b0fbba9aa27fef07a1fbd837661a863f03 < d0195c42e65805938c9eb507657e7cdf8e1e9522 ; affected 73bbf3b0fbba9aa27fef07a1fbd837661a863f03 < 52e1a03e6cf61ae165f59f41c44394a653a0a788
Linux · Linuxaffected 6.14 ; unaffected 0 < 6.14 ; unaffected 6.15.7 ≤ 6.15.* ; unaffected 6.16 ≤ *

Sources

SourceLicence
CVE List (CVEProject cvelistV5)CVE Program Terms of Use
EPSS (FIRST.org)FIRST — attribution requested
ENISA EUVDENISA — reproduction authorised, source acknowledged
CERT-FR (ANSSI)Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0
NVD (NIST) via fkie-cad/nvd-json-data-feedsPublic domain — this product uses data from the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD