Vulnerability Database

373,546

Total vulnerabilities in the database

CVE-2022-50224 — linux / linux_kernel

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

KVM: x86/mmu: Treat NX as a valid SPTE bit for NPT

Treat the NX bit as valid when using NPT, as KVM will set the NX bit when the NX huge page mitigation is enabled (mindblowing) and trigger the WARN that fires on reserved SPTE bits being set.

KVM has required NX support for SVM since commit b26a71a1a5b9 ("KVM: SVM: Refuse to load kvm_amd if NX support is not available") for exactly this reason, but apparently it never occurred to anyone to actually test NPT with the mitigation enabled.

------------[ cut here ]------------ spte = 0x800000018a600ee7, level = 2, rsvd bits = 0x800f0000001fe000 WARNING: CPU: 152 PID: 15966 at arch/x86/kvm/mmu/spte.c:215 make_spte+0x327/0x340 [kvm] Hardware name: Google, Inc. Arcadia_IT_80/Arcadia_IT_80, BIOS 10.48.0 01/27/2022 RIP: 0010:make_spte+0x327/0x340 [kvm] Call Trace: <TASK> tdp_mmu_map_handle_target_level+0xc3/0x230 [kvm] kvm_tdp_mmu_map+0x343/0x3b0 [kvm] direct_page_fault+0x1ae/0x2a0 [kvm] kvm_tdp_page_fault+0x7d/0x90 [kvm] kvm_mmu_page_fault+0xfb/0x2e0 [kvm] npf_interception+0x55/0x90 [kvm_amd] svm_invoke_exit_handler+0x31/0xf0 [kvm_amd] svm_handle_exit+0xf6/0x1d0 [kvm_amd] vcpu_enter_guest+0xb6d/0xee0 [kvm] ? kvm_pmu_trigger_event+0x6d/0x230 [kvm] vcpu_run+0x65/0x2c0 [kvm] kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run+0x355/0x610 [kvm] kvm_vcpu_ioctl+0x551/0x610 [kvm] __se_sys_ioctl+0x77/0xc0 __x64_sys_ioctl+0x1d/0x20 do_syscall_64+0x44/0xa0 entry_SYSCALL_64_after_hwframe+0x46/0xb0 </TASK> ---[ end trace 0000000000000000 ]---

  • Published: Jun 18, 2025
  • Updated: Nov 20, 2025
  • CVE: CVE-2022-50224
  • Severity: Medium
  • Exploit:
  • CISA KEV:

CVSS v3:

  • Severity: Medium
  • Score: 5.5
  • AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

No CWE or OWASP classifications available.

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A security vulnerability is a weakness in software, hardware, or configuration that can be exploited to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability. Many vulnerabilities are tracked as CVEs (Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures), which provide a standardized identifier so teams can coordinate patching, mitigation, and risk assessment across tools and vendors.

CVSS (Common Vulnerability Scoring System) estimates technical severity, but it doesn't automatically equal business risk. Prioritize using context like internet exposure, affected asset criticality, known exploitation (proof-of-concept or in-the-wild), and whether compensating controls exist. A "Medium" CVSS on an exposed, production system can be more urgent than a "Critical" on an isolated, non-production host.

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Use a simple, repeatable triage model: focus first on externally exposed assets, high-value systems (identity, VPN, email, production), vulnerabilities with known exploits, and issues that enable remote code execution or privilege escalation. Then enforce patch SLAs and track progress using consistent metrics so remediation is steady, not reactive.

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