LiveActive security incident?Get immediate response
CVE Record

CVE-2024-35875: x86/coco: Require seeding RNG with RDRAND on CoCo systems

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: x86/coco: Require seeding RNG with RDRAND on CoCo systems There are few uses of CoCo that don't rely on working cryptography and hence a working RNG. Unfortunately, the CoCo threat model means that the VM host cannot be trusted and may actively work against guests to extract secrets or manipulate computation. Since a malicious host can modify or observe nearly all inputs to guests, the only remaining source of entropy for CoCo guests is RDRAND. If RDRAND is broken -- due to CPU hardware fault -- the RNG as a whole is meant to gracefully continue on gathering entropy from other sources, but since there aren't other sources on CoCo, this is catastrophic. This is mostly a concern at boot time when initially seeding the RNG, as after that the consequences of a broken RDRAND are much more theoretical. So, try at boot to seed the RNG using 256 bits of RDRAND output. If this fails, panic(). This will also trigger if the system is booted without RDRAND, as RDRAND is essential for a safe CoCo boot. Add this deliberately to be "just a CoCo x86 driver feature" and not part of the RNG itself. Many device drivers and platforms have some desire to contribute something to the RNG, and add_device_randomness() is specifically meant for this purpose. Any driver can call it with seed data of any quality, or even garbage quality, and it can only possibly make the quality of the RNG better or have no effect, but can never make it worse. Rather than trying to build something into the core of the RNG, consider the particular CoCo issue just a CoCo issue, and therefore separate it all out into driver (well, arch/platform) code. [ bp: Massage commit message. ]

HighCVSS 8.4Not KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysishigh

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This flaw affects x86 confidential-computing guests that depend on RDRAND for trustworthy randomness during startup. If RDRAND fails, a hostile host could influence the remaining entropy sources, potentially weakening cryptographic secrets or manipulating protected computation. The kernel fix refuses to boot safely when adequate RDRAND seeding is unavailable.

Executive priority

Treat this as a high-priority hardening update for x86 confidential-computing workloads, especially those protecting valuable keys or regulated data. It is not evidence of widespread active exploitation. Patch through supported vendor channels promptly, while prioritizing exposed CoCo guests over ordinary Linux hosts not matching the stated threat model.

Technical view

Before the fix, an x86 CoCo guest could continue booting after RDRAND failure despite lacking another host-independent entropy source. The correction requires 256 bits of RDRAND output during boot and panics if collection fails or RDRAND is unavailable. The supplied CVSS 3.1 score is 8.4, with high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact.

Likely exposure

Exposure is concentrated in Linux running as an x86 confidential-computing guest, particularly during early boot. Conventional systems outside the CoCo threat model are not identified as the primary concern. The bundle lists affected Linux releases, but its flattened version data does not clearly express intervals or distribution backports; verify exact kernel status with the supplier.

Exploitation context

No active exploitation is established: the bundle marks this CVE as absent from KEV and provides no exploitation report. The relevant threat is a malicious or compromised VM host combined with absent or faulty RDRAND during guest boot. The evidence does not show that ordinary remote attackers can trigger the condition.

Researcher notes

The security boundary depends on RDRAND being the guest's remaining host-independent entropy source. The fix intentionally converts unsafe startup into fail-closed behavior, creating possible availability impact when RDRAND is unavailable. Exact affected-version interpretation is incomplete in the supplied flattened data; the four stable commits and downstream vendor records should be used for build-level confirmation.

Mitigation direction

  • Update affected CoCo guests to a supported kernel containing the applicable cited stable fix or vendor backport.
  • Confirm the confidential-computing platform provides functioning RDRAND to every protected x86 guest.
  • Consult the Linux distribution or platform vendor for exact fixed package versions.
  • Prioritize sensitive guests that generate cryptographic keys or secrets during boot.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory x86 Linux confidential-computing guests and record their kernel package, build, and boot configuration.
  • Map each deployed kernel to a cited stable fix or a documented downstream backport.
  • Confirm RDRAND is available to affected guests and investigate any related boot or hardware errors.
  • Review vendor advisories because the supplied version list does not define reliable distribution-specific fixed boundaries.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
6

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.

ATT&CK lookup starting points

Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.

cve · low confidence lookup

CVE-2024-35875 mapping review

Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.

Open ATT&CK lookup
Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
High
CVSS
8.4 (3.1)
Known Exploited
No
Published

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Official CVE source material

CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5

These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.

1CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
2ADP providers
5Source links

SSVC decision data

CISA-ADPCISA Coordinator
Timestamp
Version
2.0.3
Exploitation: noneAutomatable: noTechnical Impact: partial

CVSS vector scores

1 official score

We collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.

ScoreVersionSeverityVectorExploitImpactSource
8.4CVSS 3.1HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H2.55.9Linux

Vulnerability scoring details

Base CVSS 3.1 score

8.4High
CVSS 3.1 vector shape for CVE-2024-35875Attack VectorAttack ComplexityPrivileges RequiredUser InteractionScopeConfidentiality ImpactIntegrity ImpactAvailability Impact

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
NetworkAdjacentLocalPhysical
Attack Complexity
LowHigh
Privileges Required
NoneLowHigh
User Interaction
NoneRequired
Scope
ChangedUnchanged
Confidentiality Impact
HighLowNone
Integrity Impact
HighLowNone
Availability Impact
HighLowNone

Vulnerability timeline

Timeline events are normalized from CVE metadata, CNA source timelines, ADP timelines, and KEV metadata when present.

  1. CVE reservedCVE Program

    The CVE ID was reserved by the assigning CNA.

  2. CVE publishedCVE Program

    The CVE record was published.

  3. CVE updatedCVE Program

    The CVE record metadata indicates this as the latest update time.

ADP provider summaries

CISA-ADPCISA ADP Vulnrichment
other:ssvc
CVECVE Program Container
Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
LinuxLinuxd8aa7eea78a1401cce39b3bb61ead0150044a3df, d8aa7eea78a1401cce39b3bb61ead0150044a3df, d8aa7eea78a1401cce39b3bb61ead0150044a3df, d8aa7eea78a1401cce39b3bb61ead0150044a3dfunaffected
LinuxLinux4.15, 0, 6.1.85, 6.6.26, 6.8.5, 6.9affected
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.