USN-8172-1: kvmtool vulnerabilities

USN-8172-1: kvmtool vulnerabilities

Publication date: 13 April 2026
Overview: Several security issues were fixed in kvmtool.

Packages
kvmtool - Native Linux KVM tool

Details
It was discovered that kvmtool did not properly manage memory under certain
circumstances. A malicious guest attacker could use this issue to cause
kvmtool to crash, leading to a denial of service, or possibly execute
arbitrary code on the host system. (CVE-2021-45464)

It was discovered that kvmtool incorrectly handled the 9p passthrough file
system. A malicious guest attacker could possibly use this issue to open
special files, escape the exported 9p tree, and execute arbitrary code on
the host system. (CVE-2023-2861)

Update instructions
In general, a standard system update will make all the necessary changes.

The problem can be corrected by updating your system to the following package versions:

• 22.04 LTS jammy kvmtool – 0.20170904-1.1ubuntu0.1~esm2
• 20.04 LTS focal kvmtool – 0.20170904-1ubuntu0.20.04.1~esm1
• 18.04 LTS bionic kvmtool – 0.20170904-1ubuntu0.18.04.1~esm1
• 16.04 LTS xenial kvmtool – 0.20151104-1ubuntu0.1~esm1