A flaw was found in the KVM's AMD code for supporting SVM nested virtualization. The flaw occurs when processing the VMCB (virtual machine control block) provided by the L1 guest to spawn/handle a nested guest (L2). Due to improper validation of the "virt_ext" field, this issue could allow a malicious L1 to disable both VMLOAD/VMSAVE intercepts and VLS (Virtual VMLOAD/VMSAVE) for the L2 guest. As a result, the L2 guest would be allowed to read/write physical pages of the host, resulting in a crash of the entire system, leak of sensitive data or potential guest-to-host escape.
CVE-2021-3656
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
This high-severity CVE scores 8.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 0.7% (50th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). No GitHub Security Advisory CVSS is on record for this CVE.
- Public exploit or proof-of-concept code is available
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 8.8
- EG Score
- 8.8HIGHmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 56EG Risk 56/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity88% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 8.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation40% × 40%EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 3 (Elevated): a constant, not a probability.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 0.7%
- EPSS %ILE
- 50th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (8.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 8.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 8.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.NVD CVSS v3 · CVSS v3.0 or v3.1
- EG Likelihood
- 0.7% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-20). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
March 4, 2022
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
Advisory Details (4)
Auto-updated Aug 25, 2026oss-security - [CVE-2021-3653, CVE-2021-3656] SVM nested virtualization issues in KVM
https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2021/08/16/1commit c7dfa4009965 (torvalds/linux)
Fix landed in torvalds/linux commit c7dfa4009965 — awaiting tagged release
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/c7dfa4009965a9b2d7b329ee970eb8da0d32f0bcKVM: nSVM: always intercept VMLOAD/VMSAVE when nested (CVE-2021-3656) - kvm/kvm.git - kernel-based virtual machine - kvm
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/virt/kvm/kvm.git/commit/?id=c7dfa4009965a9b2d7b329ee970eb8da0d32f0bc1983988 – (CVE-2021-3656) CVE-2021-3656 kernel: SVM nested virtualization issue in KVM (VMLOAD/VMSAVE)
Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.1 Extended Update Support
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1983988Vendor Advisories for CVE-2021-3656(10)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
- CVE-2021-3656Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC)High
A flaw was found in the KVM's AMD code for supporting SVM nested virtualization. The flaw occurs when processing the VMCB (virtual machine control block) provided by the L1 guest to spawn/handle a nested guest (L2). Due to improper validation of the "virt_ext" field this issue could allow a malicious L1 to disable both VMLOAD/VMSAVE intercepts and VLS (Virtual VMLOAD/VMSAVE) for the L2 guest. As a result the L2 guest would be allowed to read/write physical pages of the host resulting in a crash of the entire system leak of sensitive data or potential guest-to-host escape.
- RHSA-2021:4088Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel-rt security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2021:4056Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- RHSA-2021:3987Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2021:3904Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2021:3909Red Hat Product SecurityMedium
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel-rt security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2021:3801Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update
- RHSA-2021:3802Red Hat Product SecurityHigh
Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel-rt security and bug fix update
- +2 more
Patch Availability(17)
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 5.10.46-4 |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:9(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux-4.19 | 4.19.132-1~deb9u1 ... 4.19.194-3~deb9u1 (9 versions) |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Additional Vendor Advisories
(8)
Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.
- UbuntuLSN-0081-1HIGH
Kernel Live Patch Security Notice
- UbuntuUSN-5070-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5071-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5071-2HIGH
Linux kernel (HWE) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5072-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5073-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5073-2HIGH
Linux kernel (GCP) vulnerabilities
- UbuntuUSN-5082-1HIGH
Linux kernel (OEM) vulnerabilities
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 11× in last 7d / 38× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 95 of 204 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 5 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 109 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-23 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-22 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-21 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-21 09:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-21 09:19 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-20 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-19 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-18 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-18 08:58 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-17 02:54 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-16 16:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-15 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-14 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-13 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-12 19:13 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 16:30 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-11 23:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-10 19:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-10-09 20:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-08 16:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-06 15:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-05 17:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
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- 2026-10-04 23:19 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-03 14:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-02 16:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-10-01 19:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-30 15:38 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-30 15:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-29 15:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-28 13:47 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-27 13:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-26 15:54 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-26 00:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-25 03:54 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-24 14:00 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-23 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-09-22 14:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-09-21 20:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-20 20:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-09-19 15:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-09-18 19:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 50th percentile
- 2026-09-17 19:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-16 14:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-15 03:06 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-12 14:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-11 14:49 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-11 09:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-08 21:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-07 15:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-06 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-05 19:51 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-05 15:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-09-04 13:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-04 05:03 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-02 14:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-01 13:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 49th percentile
- 2026-09-01 03:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-30 19:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-30 01:19 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-28 21:37 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-27 14:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-26 14:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-25 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-24 14:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-23 00:16 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-21 23:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-20 22:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-19 17:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-19 06:32 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-18 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-17 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-16 14:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-15 01:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-13 21:57 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-12 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-11 13:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-09 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-08 16:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-07 16:24 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-06 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 48th percentile
- 2026-08-05 19:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-08-04 10:34 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-08-04 02:27 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-03 10:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-08-02 02:24 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-08-01 04:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-07-30 16:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-07-30 01:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-07-28 15:33 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-07-26 14:52 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
- 2026-07-25 14:15 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 0.7% · 47th percentile
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (1 GitHub PoC). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- Open source ↗GitHub PoCrami08448/CVE-2021-3656-DemoPublished Nov 5, 2022
Related CVEs(same product + same vendor + same CWE)
Same product
10 shownDebian:9:linux-4.19
- CVE-2021-39713NVD 7.0EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2019-18814EG 9.8CRITICAL
- CVE-2022-0492NVD 7.8EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p93CRITICAL
- CVE-2021-22600NVD 6.6EG 9.0 KEVEPSS p94CRITICAL
- CVE-2022-0435EG 8.9EPSS p99HIGH
- CVE-2021-3653EG 8.8HIGH
- CVE-2021-28660EG 8.8HIGH
- CVE-2020-36158EG 8.8HIGH
- CVE-2020-29569EG 8.8HIGH
- CVE-2020-12351EG 8.8EPSS p95HIGH
Same vendor
10 shownredhat:RHSA-2021:3676 · redhat:RHSA-2021:3801 · ubuntu:USN-5070-1
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2021-3656?
When was the CVE record for CVE-2021-3656 published?
Is CVE-2021-3656 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2021-3656?
How do I remediate CVE-2021-3656?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2021-3656
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