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().
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.
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-2024-36936 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
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.