Improper Input Validation Affecting xen package, versions <4.13.1-r4


Severity

Recommended
0.0
medium
0
10

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Threat Intelligence

EPSS
0.05% (16th percentile)

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  • Snyk IDSNYK-ALPINE316-XEN-2844865
  • published21 Jul 2020
  • disclosed7 Jul 2020

Introduced: 7 Jul 2020

CVE-2020-15563  (opens in a new tab)
CWE-20  (opens in a new tab)

How to fix?

Upgrade Alpine:3.16 xen to version 4.13.1-r4 or higher.

NVD Description

Note: Versions mentioned in the description apply only to the upstream xen package and not the xen package as distributed by Alpine. See How to fix? for Alpine:3.16 relevant fixed versions and status.

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.13.x, allowing x86 HVM guest OS users to cause a hypervisor crash. An inverted conditional in x86 HVM guests' dirty video RAM tracking code allows such guests to make Xen de-reference a pointer guaranteed to point at unmapped space. A malicious or buggy HVM guest may cause the hypervisor to crash, resulting in Denial of Service (DoS) affecting the entire host. Xen versions from 4.8 onwards are affected. Xen versions 4.7 and earlier are not affected. Only x86 systems are affected. Arm systems are not affected. Only x86 HVM guests using shadow paging can leverage the vulnerability. In addition, there needs to be an entity actively monitoring a guest's video frame buffer (typically for display purposes) in order for such a guest to be able to leverage the vulnerability. x86 PV guests, as well as x86 HVM guests using hardware assisted paging (HAP), cannot leverage the vulnerability.

CVSS Scores

version 3.1