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FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2022-29901

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2022-07-12
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
67/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Intel microprocessor generations 6 to 8 are affected by a new Spectre variant that is able to bypass their retpoline mitigation in the kernel to leak arbitrary data. An attacker with unprivileged user access can hijack return instructions to achieve arbitrary speculative code execution under certain microarchitecture-dependent conditions.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · moderate confidence

CVE-2022-29901 is a Spectre variant (specifically targeting return instruction hijacking) that affects Intel CPU generations 6, 7, and 8 and bypasses the retpoline mitigation previously deployed in Linux kernels to defend against Spectre v2. An unprivileged attacker can hijack return instructions to achieve arbitrary speculative code execution and leak arbitrary kernel memory under specific microarchitecture-dependent conditions.

MitigationAdministrators should apply kernel updates that include additional retpoline alternatives or alternative mitigation strategies (such as IBRS/IBPB), combined with updated CPU microcode where available, especially on affected Intel generation 6-8 systems.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 35= 36
EsxiOperating system
Affected:= 7.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 10.0= 11.0
Core I7 6500u FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Core I7 6510u FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Core I7 6560u FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Core I7 6567u FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions
Core I7 6600u FirmwareOperating system
Affected:all versions

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify CPU model
    Run 'cat /proc/cpuinfo' or 'lscpu' and look for the processor model name in the 'model name' field
    Affected if The CPU model is Intel Core i7-6500U, 6510U, 6560U, 6567U, or 6600U (or other Intel Generation 6, 7, or 8 processors)
  2. Check retpoline mitigation status
    Query the kernel mitigation state via 'cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v2' or check kernel boot parameters for 'retpoline'
    Affected if The kernel shows retpoline as the primary mitigation (these CPUs can bypass retpoline)
  3. Verify OS version
    Run 'cat /etc/os-release' (Fedora/Debian) or check VMware ESXi version
    Affected if Running Fedora 35 or 36, Debian 10 or 11, or VMware ESXi 7.0
  4. Check for alternative mitigations
    Examine /sys/devices/system/cpu/vulnerabilities/spectre_v2 for IBRS/IBPB/IBRS_ALL status, or check 'dmesg | grep -i spectre' for active mitigations
    Affected if Only retpoline is enabled without IBRS/IBPB microcode-assisted mitigations

You are affected if you run an affected Intel Generation 6-8 CPU (particularly the listed i7 variants) with only retpoline as the Spectre v2 mitigation on one of the listed OS versions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Administrators should apply kernel updates that include additional retpoline alternatives or alternative mitigation strategies (such as IBRS/IBPB), combined with updated CPU microcode where available, especially on affected Intel generation 6-8 systems.

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
15.0 hours of engineering $2,640
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2022-29901 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data