CVE-2022-49440 Vulnerability Analysis & Exploit Details

CVE-2022-49440
Vulnerability Scoring

Analysis In Progress

Attack Complexity Details

Attack Complexity:
Attack Complexity Analysis In Progress
Attack Vector:
Attack Vector Under Analysis
Privileges Required: None
No authentication is required for exploitation.
Scope:
Impact is confined to the initially vulnerable component.
User Interaction: None
No user interaction is necessary for exploitation.

CVE-2022-49440 Details

Status: Received on 26 Feb 2025, 07:01 UTC

Published on: 26 Feb 2025, 07:01 UTC

CVSS Release:

CVE-2022-49440 Vulnerability Summary

CVE-2022-49440: In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: powerpc/rtas: Keep MSR[RI] set when calling RTAS RTAS runs in real mode (MSR[DR] and MSR[IR] unset) and in 32-bit big endian mode (MSR[SF,LE] unset). The change in MSR is done in enter_rtas() in a relatively complex way, since the MSR value could be hardcoded. Furthermore, a panic has been reported when hitting the watchdog interrupt while running in RTAS, this leads to the following stack trace: watchdog: CPU 24 Hard LOCKUP watchdog: CPU 24 TB:997512652051031, last heartbeat TB:997504470175378 (15980ms ago) ... Supported: No, Unreleased kernel CPU: 24 PID: 87504 Comm: drmgr Kdump: loaded Tainted: G E X 5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default #1 SLE15-SP4 (unreleased) 0d821077ef4faa8dfaf370efb5fdca1fa35f4e2c NIP: 000000001fb41050 LR: 000000001fb4104c CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c00000000fc33d60 TRAP: 0100 Tainted: G E X (5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default) MSR: 8000000002981000 <SF,VEC,VSX,ME> CR: 48800002 XER: 20040020 CFAR: 000000000000011c IRQMASK: 1 GPR00: 0000000000000003 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000001 00000000000050dc GPR04: 000000001ffb6100 0000000000000020 0000000000000001 000000001fb09010 GPR08: 0000000020000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 GPR12: 80040000072a40a8 c00000000ff8b680 0000000000000007 0000000000000034 GPR16: 000000001fbf6e94 000000001fbf6d84 000000001fbd1db0 000000001fb3f008 GPR20: 000000001fb41018 ffffffffffffffff 000000000000017f fffffffffffff68f GPR24: 000000001fb18fe8 000000001fb3e000 000000001fb1adc0 000000001fb1cf40 GPR28: 000000001fb26000 000000001fb460f0 000000001fb17f18 000000001fb17000 NIP [000000001fb41050] 0x1fb41050 LR [000000001fb4104c] 0x1fb4104c Call Trace: Instruction dump: XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX Oops: Unrecoverable System Reset, sig: 6 [#1] LE PAGE_SIZE=64K MMU=Hash SMP NR_CPUS=2048 NUMA pSeries ... Supported: No, Unreleased kernel CPU: 24 PID: 87504 Comm: drmgr Kdump: loaded Tainted: G E X 5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default #1 SLE15-SP4 (unreleased) 0d821077ef4faa8dfaf370efb5fdca1fa35f4e2c NIP: 000000001fb41050 LR: 000000001fb4104c CTR: 0000000000000000 REGS: c00000000fc33d60 TRAP: 0100 Tainted: G E X (5.14.21-150400.71.1.bz196362_2-default) MSR: 8000000002981000 <SF,VEC,VSX,ME> CR: 48800002 XER: 20040020 CFAR: 000000000000011c IRQMASK: 1 GPR00: 0000000000000003 ffffffffffffffff 0000000000000001 00000000000050dc GPR04: 000000001ffb6100 0000000000000020 0000000000000001 000000001fb09010 GPR08: 0000000020000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 0000000000000000 GPR12: 80040000072a40a8 c00000000ff8b680 0000000000000007 0000000000000034 GPR16: 000000001fbf6e94 000000001fbf6d84 000000001fbd1db0 000000001fb3f008 GPR20: 000000001fb41018 ffffffffffffffff 000000000000017f fffffffffffff68f GPR24: 000000001fb18fe8 000000001fb3e000 000000001fb1adc0 000000001fb1cf40 GPR28: 000000001fb26000 000000001fb460f0 000000001fb17f18 000000001fb17000 NIP [000000001fb41050] 0x1fb41050 LR [000000001fb4104c] 0x1fb4104c Call Trace: Instruction dump: XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX ---[ end trace 3ddec07f638c34a2 ]--- This happens because MSR[RI] is unset when entering RTAS but there is no valid reason to not set it here. RTAS is expected to be called with MSR[RI] as specified in PAPR+ section "7.2.1 Machine State": R1–7.2.1–9. If called with MSR[RI] equal to 1, then RTAS must protect its own critical regions from recursion by setting the MSR[RI] bit to 0 when in the critical regions. Fixing this by reviewing the way MSR is compute before calling RTAS. Now a hardcoded value meaning real ---truncated---

Assessing the Risk of CVE-2022-49440

Access Complexity Graph

The exploitability of CVE-2022-49440 depends on two key factors: attack complexity (the level of effort required to execute an exploit) and privileges required (the access level an attacker needs).

Exploitability Analysis for CVE-2022-49440

No exploitability data is available for CVE-2022-49440.

Understanding AC and PR

A lower complexity and fewer privilege requirements make exploitation easier. Security teams should evaluate these aspects to determine the urgency of mitigation strategies, such as patch management and access control policies.

Attack Complexity (AC) measures the difficulty in executing an exploit. A high AC means that specific conditions must be met, making an attack more challenging, while a low AC means the vulnerability can be exploited with minimal effort.

Privileges Required (PR) determine the level of system access necessary for an attack. Vulnerabilities requiring no privileges are more accessible to attackers, whereas high privilege requirements limit exploitation to authorized users with elevated access.

CVSS Score Breakdown Chart

Above is the CVSS Sub-score Breakdown for CVE-2022-49440, illustrating how Base, Impact, and Exploitability factors combine to form the overall severity rating. A higher sub-score typically indicates a more severe or easier-to-exploit vulnerability.

CIA Impact Analysis

Below is the Impact Analysis for CVE-2022-49440, showing how Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability might be affected if the vulnerability is exploited. Higher values usually signal greater potential damage.

Confidentiality: None
CVE-2022-49440 does not compromise confidentiality.
Integrity: None
CVE-2022-49440 does not impact data integrity.
Availability: None
CVE-2022-49440 does not affect system availability.

Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS)

The EPSS score estimates the probability that this vulnerability will be exploited in the near future.

EPSS Score: 0.045% (probability of exploit)

EPSS Percentile: 18.4% (lower percentile = lower relative risk)
This vulnerability is less risky than approximately 81.6% of others.

CVE-2022-49440 References

External References

CWE Common Weakness Enumeration

Unknown

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