[PATCH v2] RISC-V: KVM: Fix null pointer dereference in kvm_riscv_vcpu_aia_rmw_topei()

Anup Patel anup at brainfault.org
Mon Mar 2 00:36:46 PST 2026


On Thu, Feb 26, 2026 at 2:21 PM Jiakai Xu <xujiakai2025 at iscas.ac.cn> wrote:
>
> kvm_riscv_vcpu_aia_rmw_topei() assumes that the per-vCPU IMSIC state has
> been initialized once AIA is reported as available and initialized at
> the VM level. This assumption does not always hold.
>
> Under fuzzed ioctl sequences, a guest may access the IMSIC TOPEI CSR
> before the vCPU IMSIC state is set up. In this case,
> vcpu->arch.aia_context.imsic_state is still NULL, and the TOPEI RMW path
> dereferences it unconditionally, leading to a host kernel crash.
>
> The crash manifests as:
>   Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address
>   dfffffff0000000e
>   ...
>   kvm_riscv_vcpu_aia_imsic_rmw arch/riscv/kvm/aia_imsic.c:909
>   kvm_riscv_vcpu_aia_rmw_topei arch/riscv/kvm/aia.c:231
>   csr_insn arch/riscv/kvm/vcpu_insn.c:208
>   system_opcode_insn arch/riscv/kvm/vcpu_insn.c:281
>   kvm_riscv_vcpu_virtual_insn arch/riscv/kvm/vcpu_insn.c:355
>   kvm_riscv_vcpu_exit arch/riscv/kvm/vcpu_exit.c:230
>   kvm_arch_vcpu_ioctl_run arch/riscv/kvm/vcpu.c:1008
>   ...
>
> Fix this by explicitly checking whether the vCPU IMSIC state has been
> initialized before handling TOPEI CSR accesses. If not, forward the CSR
> emulation to user space.
>
> Fixes: db8b7e97d6137 ("RISC-V: KVM: Add in-kernel virtualization of AIA IMSIC")
> Signed-off-by: Jiakai Xu <xujiakai2025 at iscas.ac.cn>
> Signed-off-by: Jiakai Xu <jiakaiPeanut at gmail.com>

LGTM.

Reviewed-by: Anup Patel <anup at brainfault.org>

Queued this patch as fixes for Linux-7.0-rcX

Regards,
Anup

> ---
> V1 -> V2: Moved imsic_state NULL check into kvm_riscv_vcpu_aia_imsic_rmw().
>           Updated Fixes tag to db8b7e97d6137.
> ---
>  arch/riscv/kvm/aia_imsic.c | 4 ++++
>  1 file changed, 4 insertions(+)
>
> diff --git a/arch/riscv/kvm/aia_imsic.c b/arch/riscv/kvm/aia_imsic.c
> index fda0346f0ea1f..60917f4789d84 100644
> --- a/arch/riscv/kvm/aia_imsic.c
> +++ b/arch/riscv/kvm/aia_imsic.c
> @@ -892,6 +892,10 @@ int kvm_riscv_vcpu_aia_imsic_rmw(struct kvm_vcpu *vcpu, unsigned long isel,
>         int r, rc = KVM_INSN_CONTINUE_NEXT_SEPC;
>         struct imsic *imsic = vcpu->arch.aia_context.imsic_state;
>
> +       /* If IMSIC vCPU state not initialized then forward to user space */
> +       if (!imsic)
> +               return KVM_INSN_EXIT_TO_USER_SPACE;
> +
>         if (isel == KVM_RISCV_AIA_IMSIC_TOPEI) {
>                 /* Read pending and enabled interrupt with highest priority */
>                 topei = imsic_mrif_topei(imsic->swfile, imsic->nr_eix,
> --
> 2.34.1
>



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