An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.13.x, allowing x86 HVM guest OS users to cause a…
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- Denial of service
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · NVD. Fix status from CNA. Impact type from CWE-119 and the CVSS impact.
Summary
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.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 5
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:* | 4.8.0 – 4.13.1 | Vulnerable | Xen |
| cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 10.0 | Vulnerable | Debian |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 31 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 32 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 15.2 | Vulnerable | openSUSE |
- cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:* Versions 4.8.0 – 4.13.1 Vulnerable ·Xen
- cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 10.0 Vulnerable ·Debian
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 31 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:32:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 32 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 15.2 Vulnerable ·openSUSE
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
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2020-15563
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-wwfw-7rgm-hmmc
References
Sources
- CVE-2020-15563 · CVE Program
- CVE-2020-15563 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-wwfw-7rgm-hmmc · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2020-15563 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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