Improper Access ControlWeakness · CWE-284

CVE-2025-0033

MEDIUM · 6.0 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-10-14
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
62/100
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
Improper access control within AMD SEV-SNP could allow an admin privileged attacker to write to the RMP during SNP initialization, potentially resulting in a loss of SEV-SNP guest memory integrity.

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

AMD SEV-SNP (Secure Encrypted Virtualization with Secure Nested Paging) has an improper access control vulnerability during SNP initialization that allows an administrator-privileged attacker to write to the Reverse Page Table (RMP), compromising guest memory integrity.

MitigationApply AMD-provided firmware/microcode updates for SEV-SNP-enabled processors and ensure hypervisors are updated to enforce proper RMP access controls during SNP initialization.

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

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
High
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
High
Availability
None

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/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. Verify CPU hardware support for SEV-SNP
    Run `grep -o 'sev_snp\|sev' /proc/cpuinfo` or use `cpuid | grep -i sev` to check if the processor advertises SEV-SNP capability in CPU flags
    Affected if The CPU does not show sev_snp or sev flags, indicating the processor lacks SEV-SNP hardware support and is not affected
  2. Confirm hypervisor type and SEV-SNP status
    Check if running under a KVM hypervisor with `lsmod | grep kvm` and verify SEV-SNP is enabled in the hypervisor configuration or libvirt XML definitions for the VM
    Affected if Hypervisor is not KVM-based or does not have SEV-SNP explicitly enabled in the VM configuration, indicating the attack surface is not present
  3. Inspect SEV-SNP enablement in hypervisor boot or config
    Review hypervisor boot parameters (e.g., kvm_amd.sev=1 in kernel cmdline) or configuration files for SEV-SNP initialization settings
    Affected if SEV-SNP is not enabled in the hypervisor, meaning the vulnerable SNP initialization code path is not executed
  4. Check BIOS/UEFI for SEV-SNP memory encryption setting
    Access system BIOS/UEFI setup and look for memory encryption settings (e.g., 'AMD Memory Guard', 'SEV-SNP', 'Secure Encrypted Virtualization') - if accessible via `dmidecode`, check for memory encryption-related entries
    Affected if Memory encryption or SEV-SNP is disabled in BIOS/UEFI, so the vulnerable code path during SNP initialization is not reached
  5. Identify hypervisor and check for SNP initialization
    Determine hypervisor version via `qemu-system-x86_64 --version`, `virsh version`, or host OS details, then check whether SNP-enabled VMs have been launched
    Affected if No SEV-SNP virtual machines have been instantiated on the hypervisor, as the vulnerability requires SNP initialization to be triggered

A system is affected only if it runs on AMD hardware with SEV-SNP capability, uses a hypervisor that supports and enables SEV-SNP, and has SEV-SNP virtual machines initialized, allowing an administrator to reach the vulnerable SNP initialization code path.

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

Apply AMD-provided firmware/microcode updates for SEV-SNP-enabled processors and ensure hypervisors are updated to enforce proper RMP access controls during SNP initialization.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation8.0 h
  • Implementation24.0 h
  • Testing16.0 h
  • Review / QA8.0 h
56.0 hours of engineering $9,760
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

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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-2025-0033 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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What this is

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What belongs here
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