Description
A flaw was found in the fix for CVE-2019-11135, in the Linux upstream kernel versions before 5.5 where, the way Intel CPUs handle speculative execution of instructions when a TSX Asynchronous Abort (TAA) error occurs. When a guest is running on a host CPU affected by the TAA flaw (TAA_NO=0), but is not affected by the MDS issue (MDS_NO=1), the guest was to clear the affected buffers by using a VERW instruction mechanism. But when the MDS_NO=1 bit was exported to the guests, the guests did not use the VERW mechanism to clear the affected buffers. This issue affects guests running on Cascade Lake CPUs and requires that host has 'TSX' enabled. Confidentiality of data is the highest threat associated with this vulnerability.
Metrics
CVSS 3.1 5.5/10
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:NWeakness enumeration
Affected software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| [UNKNOWN] | Linux Kernel | before 5.5 |
References
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-19338Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://software.intel.com/security-software-guidance/insights/deep-dive-intel-transactional-synchronization-extensions-intel-tsx-asynchronous-abortThird Party Advisory
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/12/10/3Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2019-19338Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- https://software.intel.com/security-software-guidance/insights/deep-dive-intel-transactional-synchronization-extensions-intel-tsx-asynchronous-abortThird Party Advisory
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/12/10/3Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
Timeline
- Published
- Jul 13, 2020
- Last modified
- Jun 17, 2026
- NVD status
- Modified