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CVE Record

CVE-2024-36936: efi/unaccepted: touch soft lockup during memory accept

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: efi/unaccepted: touch soft lockup during memory accept Commit 50e782a86c98 ("efi/unaccepted: Fix soft lockups caused by parallel memory acceptance") has released the spinlock so other CPUs can do memory acceptance in parallel and not triggers softlockup on other CPUs. However the softlock up was intermittent shown up if the memory of the TD guest is large, and the timeout of softlockup is set to 1 second: RIP: 0010:_raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore Call Trace: ? __hrtimer_run_queues <IRQ> ? hrtimer_interrupt ? watchdog_timer_fn ? __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt ? __pfx_watchdog_timer_fn ? sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt </IRQ> ? __hrtimer_run_queues <TASK> ? hrtimer_interrupt ? asm_sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt ? _raw_spin_unlock_irqrestore ? __sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt ? sysvec_apic_timer_interrupt accept_memory try_to_accept_memory do_huge_pmd_anonymous_page get_page_from_freelist __handle_mm_fault __alloc_pages __folio_alloc ? __tdx_hypercall handle_mm_fault vma_alloc_folio do_user_addr_fault do_huge_pmd_anonymous_page exc_page_fault ? __do_huge_pmd_anonymous_page asm_exc_page_fault __handle_mm_fault When the local irq is enabled at the end of accept_memory(), the softlockup detects that the watchdog on single CPU has not been fed for a while. That is to say, even other CPUs will not be blocked by spinlock, the current CPU might be stunk with local irq disabled for a while, which hurts not only nmi watchdog but also softlockup. Chao Gao pointed out that the memory accept could be time costly and there was similar report before. Thus to avoid any softlocup detection during this stage, give the softlockup a flag to skip the timeout check at the end of accept_memory(), by invoking touch_softlockup_watchdog().

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

This is a Linux kernel availability bug in EFI unaccepted-memory handling. In some TD guests with large memory, memory acceptance can take long enough that the watchdog reports a soft lockup. The kernel fix refreshes the soft-lockup watchdog during that path. Sources do not show data theft, privilege escalation, or active exploitation.

Executive priority

Treat as a targeted availability risk for confidential-computing or TD guest deployments, not a broad emergency. Patch through normal kernel maintenance, with higher priority where large-memory guests support production workloads or availability commitments.

Technical view

The vulnerable path is accept_memory()/try_to_accept_memory() during EFI unaccepted memory acceptance. Earlier parallelization reduced cross-CPU blocking, but the current CPU could keep local IRQs disabled long enough to trip the soft-lockup detector. Stable fixes invoke touch_softlockup_watchdog() around this costly memory-acceptance stage.

Likely exposure

Exposure appears limited to affected Linux kernels in environments using EFI unaccepted memory, especially large TD guests. The source bundle lists Linux kernel versions including 6.6, 6.6.55, 6.8.10, and 6.9 as affected, but exact distribution package status must be confirmed with vendor advisories.

Exploitation context

No source in the bundle reports public exploitation, weaponized proof of concept, or CISA KEV listing. The issue is described as intermittent soft-lockup behavior under specific guest memory and watchdog timing conditions, not as a remotely exploitable attack path.

Researcher notes

Evidence points to a kernel watchdog-handling defect in the EFI unaccepted-memory acceptance path. The provided record has no CVSS, CWE, exploit evidence, or distro-level package mapping, so exposure assessment depends on local kernel lineage and workload architecture.

Mitigation direction

  • Update to a vendor kernel containing the referenced stable fixes.
  • Prioritize affected TD guest hosts or images with large memory allocations.
  • Check Linux distribution advisories for exact fixed package versions.
  • Avoid inventing configuration workarounds; follow vendor guidance if patching is delayed.

Validation and detection

  • Inventory Linux kernel versions across TD guest images and hosts.
  • Identify workloads using EFI unaccepted memory or confidential-computing TD guests.
  • Compare installed kernels with distribution advisories and referenced stable commits.
  • Review kernel logs for soft lockup events during memory-heavy guest operation.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
5

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

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
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.

0CVSS vectors
3Timeline events
2ADP providers
4Source links

SSVC decision data

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

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
LinuxLinux50e782a86c980d4f8292ef82ed8139282ca07a98, 50e782a86c980d4f8292ef82ed8139282ca07a98, 50e782a86c980d4f8292ef82ed8139282ca07a98, b583bfcc5a36dbd1db1984dbfcfd23ba64d23604unaffected
LinuxLinux6.6, 0, 6.6.55, 6.8.10, 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.