[PATCH v4 01/13] KVM: s390: Fix unlikely NULL gmap dereference

From: Claudio Imbrenda

Date: Tue Jul 28 2026 - 13:25:58 EST


When creating a new vCPU, kvm_vm_ioctl_create_vcpu() will call
kvm_arch_vcpu_postcreate() after the file descriptor for the new vCPU
has been created. The new file descriptor has not been returned yet,
but a malicious userspace program could try to guess it.

If a malicious userspace program manages to start the newly created vCPU
before kvm_arch_vcpu_postcreate() is called, __vcpu_run() will try to
dereference vcpu->arch.gmap and trigger a NULL pointer dereference.

Fix this by adding a new field to struct kvm_vcpu_arch to keep track of
the initialization status of the vCPU. Refuse to run a vCPU that is not
fully initialized.

Fixes: dafd032a15f8 ("KVM: s390: move vcpu specific initalization to a later point")
Fixes: e38c884df921 ("KVM: s390: Switch to new gmap")
Signed-off-by: Claudio Imbrenda <imbrenda@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Steffen Eiden <seiden@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reviewed-by: Janosch Frank <frankja@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
---
arch/s390/include/asm/kvm_host.h | 1 +
arch/s390/kvm/kvm-s390.c | 11 +++++++++++
2 files changed, 12 insertions(+)

diff --git a/arch/s390/include/asm/kvm_host.h b/arch/s390/include/asm/kvm_host.h
index eaa34c5bd3c1..edf75b6ad20c 100644
--- a/arch/s390/include/asm/kvm_host.h
+++ b/arch/s390/include/asm/kvm_host.h
@@ -440,6 +440,7 @@ struct kvm_vcpu_arch {
bool skey_enabled;
/* Indicator if the access registers have been loaded from guest */
bool acrs_loaded;
+ bool initialized;
struct kvm_s390_pv_vcpu pv;
union diag318_info diag318_info;
struct kvm_s390_mmu_cache *mc;
diff --git a/arch/s390/kvm/kvm-s390.c b/arch/s390/kvm/kvm-s390.c
index 150b5dd2170e..f86b4b0b356f 100644
--- a/arch/s390/kvm/kvm-s390.c
+++ b/arch/s390/kvm/kvm-s390.c
@@ -3613,6 +3613,9 @@ void kvm_arch_vcpu_postcreate(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
if (test_kvm_facility(vcpu->kvm, 74) || vcpu->kvm->arch.user_instr0 ||
vcpu->kvm->arch.user_operexec)
vcpu->arch.sie_block->ictl |= ICTL_OPEREXC;
+
+ /* Pairs with smp_load_acquire() in kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run() and kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl() */
+ smp_store_release(&vcpu->arch.initialized, true);
}

static bool kvm_has_pckmo_subfunc(struct kvm *kvm, unsigned long nr)
@@ -5039,6 +5042,10 @@ int kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu)
kvm_run->kvm_dirty_regs & ~KVM_SYNC_S390_VALID_FIELDS)
return -EINVAL;

+ /* Pairs with smp_store_release() in kvm_arch_vcpu_postcreate() */
+ if (!smp_load_acquire(&vcpu->arch.initialized))
+ return -EINVAL;
+
vcpu_load(vcpu);

if (guestdbg_exit_pending(vcpu)) {
@@ -5523,6 +5530,10 @@ long kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl(struct file *filp,
long r;
u16 rc, rrc;

+ /* Pairs with smp_store_release() in kvm_arch_vcpu_postcreate() */
+ if (!smp_load_acquire(&vcpu->arch.initialized))
+ return -EINVAL;
+
vcpu_load(vcpu);

switch (ioctl) {
--
2.55.0