Veeam Software Appliance VMs Fail to Boot on AMD EPYC Processors Due to Kernel Panic

Veeam Software Appliance Boot Failures Identified

Veeam has alerted customers about an issue causing its Software Appliance virtual machines (VMs) to fail booting on hosts equipped with specific AMD EPYC processors. The Software Appliance VMs are pre-configured Linux-based systems designed to run Veeam Backup & Replication without manual dependency installation.

Root Cause: FIPS Mode Jitterentropy Test

The problem occurs because the underlying Linux kernel in the Veeam Software Appliance performs integrated health and cryptographic checks, including jitterentropy health tests in FIPS mode, during the early boot process. On certain AMD EPYC processors, such as the 7262, 7302, and 7F72, this test intermittently fails, leading to a kernel panic and preventing the VM from booting. This issue is inherent to the Linux kernel version used by the appliance.

Affected Versions and Error Messages

This boot failure impacts Veeam Software Appliance version 13.1 and all subsequent versions. Users encountering the problem will see a specific kernel panic error message: "Kernel panic - not syncing: jitterentropy: Initialization failed with host not compliant with requirements: 9".

Mitigation Strategies for Administrators

Veeam has provided several mitigation options. The primary recommendation is to redeploy the affected appliance to a Linux host utilizing a different processor type. If redeployment is not feasible, administrators are advised to disable automatic updates for the appliance. Instead, updates should be installed manually, with close monitoring during the reboot process. If a kernel panic occurs, the virtual machine must be powered off and then powered on again, as a guest operating system restart will not resolve the issue. Once successfully booted, the appliance is expected to operate without further errors.