cbcvebase.
CVE-2018-8897
published 2018-05-08

CVE-2018-8897: A statement in the System Programming Guide of the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual (SDM) was mishandled in the development of some…

PriorityP260high7.8CVSS 3.0
AVLACLPRLUINSUCHIHAH
EXPLOIT
EPSS
18.70%
96.9th percentile
A statement in the System Programming Guide of the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual (SDM) was mishandled in the development of some or all operating-system kernels, resulting in unexpected behavior for #DB exceptions that are deferred by MOV SS or POP SS, as demonstrated by (for example) privilege escalation in Windows, macOS, some Xen configurations, or FreeBSD, or a Linux kernel crash. The MOV to SS and POP SS instructions inhibit interrupts (including NMIs), data breakpoints, and single step trap exceptions until the instruction boundary following the next instruction (SDM Vol. 3A; section 6.8.3). (The inhibited data breakpoints are those on memory accessed by the MOV to SS or POP to SS instruction itself.) Note that debug exceptions are not inhibited by the interrupt enable (EFLAGS.IF) system flag (SDM Vol. 3A; section 2.3). If the instruction following the MOV to SS or POP to SS instruction is an instruction like SYSCALL, SYSENTER, INT 3, etc. that transfers control to the operating system at CPL < 3, the debug exception is delivered after the transfer to CPL < 3 is complete. OS kernels may not expect this order of events and may therefore experience unexpected behavior when it occurs.

Affected

143 ranges· showing 25
VendorProductVersion rangeFixed in
amdamd_ryzen_5000_series_processors_with_radeon_graphics_barcelo
amdamd_ryzen_6000_series_processors_with_radeon_graphics_rembrandt
amdamd_ryzen_7030_series_mobile_processors_with_radeon_graphics_barcelo-r
amdamd_ryzen_7035_series_processors_with_radeon_graphics_rembrandt-r
amdryzen_3_5100_firmware< comboam4v2_1.2.0.bcomboam4v2_1.2.0.b
amdryzen_3_5125c_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_3_5300g_firmware< comboam4v2_1.2.0.bcomboam4v2_1.2.0.b
amdryzen_3_5300ge_firmware< comboam4v2_1.2.0.bcomboam4v2_1.2.0.b
amdryzen_3_5400u_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_3_5425u_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_3_7335u_firmware< rembrandtpi-fp7_1.0.0.9rembrandtpi-fp7_1.0.0.9
amdryzen_3_pro_7330u_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_3_pro_7440u_firmware< phoenixpi-fp8-fp7_pi_1.0.0.1gphoenixpi-fp8-fp7_pi_1.0.0.1g
amdryzen_5000_series_desktop_processor_with_radeon_graphics_cezanne
amdryzen_5000_series_mobile_processors_with_radeon_graphics_cezanne
amdryzen_5_5500_firmware< comboam4v2_1.2.0.bcomboam4v2_1.2.0.b
amdryzen_5_5500h_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_5_5560u_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_5_5600g_firmware< comboam4v2_1.2.0.bcomboam4v2_1.2.0.b
amdryzen_5_5600ge_firmware< comboam4v2_1.2.0.bcomboam4v2_1.2.0.b
amdryzen_5_5600h_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_5_5600hs_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_5_5600u_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_5_5625u_firmware< cezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.fcezannepi-fp6_1.0.0.f
amdryzen_5_6600h_firmware< rembrandtpi-fp7_1.0.0.9rembrandtpi-fp7_1.0.0.9

Detection & IOCsextracted from sources · hover to see the quote

pathdata/exploits/cve-2018-8897-exe/cve-2018-8897-exe.exe
filenamecve-2018-8897-exe.exe
commandcmd.exe /c #{exploit_path} #{payload_path}
  • Exploit requires an authenticated local session (meterpreter) on a 64-bit Windows target; detect unusual processes spawned from cmd.exe under a low-privileged user that result in kernel-mode code execution.
  • The Metasploit module uploads a pre-compiled exploit binary (cve-2018-8897-exe.exe) and a payload EXE to %TEMP%; monitor for executable drops into the TEMP directory followed by cmd.exe execution of those binaries.
  • The exploit targets Windows x64 only and explicitly fails against Windows XP; scope detection rules to 64-bit Windows systems.
  • The vulnerability is triggered by MOV SS / POP SS followed by a CPL-transition instruction (e.g., SYSCALL, SYSENTER, INT 3); kernel-level debug exception (#DB) handling anomalies at CPL < 3 are the key behavioral indicator.
  • KVA Shadowing (Kernel Virtual Address Shadowing) being disabled is a prerequisite for the PoC to succeed on Windows; check registry/system settings for KVA Shadowing status as a risk indicator.
  • The exploit may not work under certain hypervisors (e.g., VMware) that discard the pending #DB after INT3; anomalous #DB exceptions in bare-metal or non-VMware environments should be treated with higher suspicion.
  • ·The Metasploit module uses randomly named exploit and payload binaries by default (%RAND%.exe), making static filename-based detection unreliable; behavioral detection (drop + execute in %TEMP%) is more robust.
  • ·The Windows update fully resolves the vulnerability without requiring microcode or hardware OEM updates; patched systems are not vulnerable regardless of hypervisor configuration.
  • ·This vulnerability is unrelated to speculative execution side-channel attacks; do not conflate detection/mitigation with Spectre/Meltdown controls.

CVSS provenance

nvdv3.07.8HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
nvdv2.07.2HIGHAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
osv7.8HIGH
vendor_debian7.8HIGH
vendor_redhat7.8HIGH
vendor_msrc7.0HIGH
vendor_ubuntu5.5MEDIUM
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