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This CVE record has been updated after NVD enrichment efforts were completed. Enrichment data supplied by the NVD may require amendment due to these changes.
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
x86/kexec: Disable KCOV instrumentation after load_segments()
The load_segments() function changes segment registers, invalidating GS base
(which KCOV relies on for per-cpu data). When CONFIG_KCOV is enabled, any
subsequent instrumented C code call (e.g. native_gdt_invalidate()) begins
crashing the kernel in an endless loop.
To reproduce the problem, it's sufficient to do kexec on a KCOV-instrumented
kernel:
$ kexec -l /boot/otherKernel
$ kexec -e
The real-world context for this problem is enabling crash dump collection in
syzkaller. For this, the tool loads a panic kernel before fuzzing and then
calls makedumpfile after the panic. This workflow requires both CONFIG_KEXEC
and CONFIG_KCOV to be enabled simultaneously.
Adding safeguards directly to the KCOV fast-path (__sanitizer_cov_trace_pc())
is also undesirable as it would introduce an extra performance overhead.
Disabling instrumentation for the individual functions would be too fragile,
so disable KCOV instrumentation for the entire machine_kexec_64.c and
physaddr.c. If coverage-guided fuzzing ever needs these components in the
future, other approaches should be considered.
The problem is not relevant for 32 bit kernels as CONFIG_KCOV is not supported
there.
[ bp: Space out comment for better readability. ]
Metrics
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OR
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc1:*:*:*:*:*:*
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc2:*:*:*:*:*:*
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc3:*:*:*:*:*:*
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc4:*:*:*:*:*:*
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc5:*:*:*:*:*:*
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:7.0:rc6:*:*:*:*:*:*
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.19 up to (excluding) 6.19.12
*cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 6.6 up to (excluding) 6.18.22
New CVE Received from kernel.org5/08/2026 10:16:42 AM
Action
Type
Old Value
New Value
Added
Description
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
x86/kexec: Disable KCOV instrumentation after load_segments()
The load_segments() function changes segment registers, invalidating GS base
(which KCOV relies on for per-cpu data). When CONFIG_KCOV is enabled, any
subsequent instrumented C code call (e.g. native_gdt_invalidate()) begins
crashing the kernel in an endless loop.
To reproduce the problem, it's sufficient to do kexec on a KCOV-instrumented
kernel:
$ kexec -l /boot/otherKernel
$ kexec -e
The real-world context for this problem is enabling crash dump collection in
syzkaller. For this, the tool loads a panic kernel before fuzzing and then
calls makedumpfile after the panic. This workflow requires both CONFIG_KEXEC
and CONFIG_KCOV to be enabled simultaneously.
Adding safeguards directly to the KCOV fast-path (__sanitizer_cov_trace_pc())
is also undesirable as it would introduce an extra performance overhead.
Disabling instrumentation for the individual functions would be too fragile,
so disable KCOV instrumentation for the entire machine_kexec_64.c and
physaddr.c. If coverage-guided fuzzing ever needs these components in the
future, other approaches should be considered.
The problem is not relevant for 32 bit kernels as CONFIG_KCOV is not supported
there.
[ bp: Space out comment for better readability. ]