Veeam Software Appliance VMs crash with kernel panic on AMD EPYC hosts due to FIPS-mode jitterentropy failure
Veeam warned customers that its Software Appliance virtual machines — pre-configured, Linux-based VMs that run Veeam Backup & Replication — intermittently fail to boot and crash with a kernel panic on hosts using certain AMD EPYC processors. The issue stems from the Linux kernel's FIPS-mode jitterentropy health test failing during early boot, and affects Veeam Software Appliance version 13.1 and later. This is an availability/reliability defect, not a security vulnerability or an exploited flaw, so the operational urgency is limited to backup-infrastructure uptime. Separately, Veeam disclosed the same day that some of its products are affected by a critical Linux kernel vulnerability (CVE-2026-98432) in the IPv4 TCP/MPTCP code allowing remote unauthenticated root command execution, which it is patching via private fixes and the Veeam Updater.
Detalhes técnicos
The Linux kernel used by the Software Appliance runs a jitterentropy health test in FIPS mode during early boot to comply with corporate and government security frameworks. On certain AMD EPYC processors — including the AMD EPYC 7262, 7302, and 7F72 — the test intermittently fails, causing the kernel to halt with the panic Kernel panic - not syncing: jitterentropy: Initialization failed with host not compliant with requirements: 9. The failure can occur on any reboot, including a reboot that follows an update installing a new kernel. The root cause originates in the kernel version shipped with the appliance.
Remediação
Veeam advises redeploying the appliance to a Linux host with a different (unaffected) processor. Where that is not possible, administrators should disable automatic updates and install updates manually while monitoring the VM during reboot. If a kernel panic occurs, the VM must be powered off and powered on again — a guest OS restart does not recover it; once booted successfully, no further errors are expected and Veeam Backup & Replication operation is unaffected.
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Veeam Software Appliance VMs crash with kernel panic on AMD EPYC hosts due to FIPS-mode jitterentropy failure
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Veeam warned customers that its Software Appliance virtual machines — pre-configured, Linux-based VMs that run Veeam Backup & Replication — intermittently fail to boot and crash with a kernel panic on hosts using certain AMD EPYC processors. The issue stems from the Linux kernel's FIPS-mode jitterentropy health test failing during early boot, and affects Veeam Software Appliance version 13.1 and later. This is an availability/reliability defect, not a security vulnerability or an exploited flaw, so the operational urgency is limited to backup-infrastructure uptime. Separately, Veeam disclosed the same day that some of its products are affected by a critical Linux kernel vulnerability (CVE-2026-98432) in the IPv4 TCP/MPTCP code allowing remote unauthenticated root command execution, which it is patching via private fixes and the Veeam Updater.
Technical Details
The Linux kernel used by the Software Appliance runs a jitterentropy health test in FIPS mode during early boot to comply with corporate and government security frameworks. On certain AMD EPYC processors — including the AMD EPYC 7262, 7302, and 7F72 — the test intermittently fails, causing the kernel to halt with the panic
Kernel panic - not syncing: jitterentropy: Initialization failed with host not compliant with requirements: 9. The failure can occur on any reboot, including a reboot that follows an update installing a new kernel. The root cause originates in the kernel version shipped with the appliance.Remediation
Veeam advises redeploying the appliance to a Linux host with a different (unaffected) processor. Where that is not possible, administrators should disable automatic updates and install updates manually while monitoring the VM during reboot. If a kernel panic occurs, the VM must be powered off and powered on again — a guest OS restart does not recover it; once booted successfully, no further errors are expected and Veeam Backup & Replication operation is unaffected.