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TI-2018-11028 Aliases CVE-2018-15468GHSA-m48w-fvxv-5j3g

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.11.x.

Priority LOW 27CWE-863Published · Updated

Key facts

Attack vector
Local
Privileges required
High
User interaction
None
Attack complexity
Low
Impact type
Security bypass
Confidentiality · integrity · availability
None · None · High
Fix status
No fix listed

Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-863.

Summary

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.11.x. The DEBUGCTL MSR contains several debugging features, some of which virtualise cleanly, but some do not. In particular, Branch Trace Store is not virtualised by the processor, and software has to be careful to configure it suitably not to lock up the core. As a result, it must only be available to fully trusted guests. Unfortunately, in the case that vPMU is disabled, all value checking was skipped, allowing the guest to choose any MSR_DEBUGCTL setting it likes. A malicious or buggy guest administrator (on Intel x86 HVM or PVH) can lock up the entire host, causing a Denial of Service.

Why it matters now

EPSS 0.00337 27th percentileScored 2026-11-07
Fix No fix listed No fixed version in the sources yet

SSVC decision points

Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.

Affected products

VendorProductAffected versionsFixed inStatusSource
——all versions—No fix listedCNA
  • — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA

CPE configurations NVD · 1

CPEVersionsRoleVendor
cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*up to 4.11.0VulnerableXen
  • cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions up to 4.11.0 Vulnerable ·Xen

Remediation

No fixed version listed by the sources yet.

Vendor assessments

Red Hat

Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →

Not affected: 1 product
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5

Timeline

  1. 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2018-15468
  2. 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-m48w-fvxv-5j3g

References

Advisory 2

  • TI-2012-00210 The x86-64 kernel system-call functionality in Xen 4.1.2 and earlier, as used in Citrix… CVSS 2.0HIGH 7.2
  • TI-2023-07042 Information disclosure through error messages in AMD Ryzen™ 3000 Series Desktop… CVSS 3.1MEDIUM 5.5
  • TI-2015-04333 The C+ mode offload emulation in the RTL8139 network card device model in QEMU, as used… CVSS 2.0HIGH 9.3
  • TI-2015-06741 The KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel through 4.2.6, and Xen 4.3.x through 4.6.x, allows… CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 10.0
  • TI-2018-06436 A statement in the System Programming Guide of the Intel 64 and IA-32 Architectures… CVSS 3.0HIGH 7.8
  • TI-2024-20522 x86: Incorrect logic for BTC/SRSO mitigations CVSS 3.1HIGH 7.5
See all 489 →

Sources

This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences