x86: shadow stack vs exceptions from emulation stubs
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Local
- Privileges required
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · None · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.1 · CISA ADP. Fix status from CNA.
Summary
Recent x86 CPUs offer functionality named Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET). A sub-feature of this are Shadow Stacks (CET-SS). CET-SS is a hardware feature designed to protect against Return Oriented Programming attacks. When enabled, traditional stacks holding both data and return addresses are accompanied by so called "shadow stacks", holding little more than return addresses. Shadow stacks aren't writable by normal instructions, and upon function returns their contents are used to check for possible manipulation of a return address coming from the traditional stack. In particular certain memory accesses need intercepting by Xen. In various cases the necessary emulation involves kind of replaying of the instruction. Such replaying typically involves filling and then invoking of a stub. Such a replayed instruction may raise an exceptions, which is expected and dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately the interaction of both of the above wasn't right: Recovery involves removal of a call frame from the (traditional) stack. The counterpart of this operation for the shadow stack was missing.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
CISA ADP · SSVC 2.0.3
- Exploitation
- None
- Automatable
- No
- Technical impact
- Partial
The decision (Track, Attend, Act) also depends on your mission and well-being impact; see CISA's SSVC guide.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xen | Xen | — | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- Xen VendorXen Affected — Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
CPE configurations NVD · 2
| CPE | Versions | Role | Vendor |
|---|---|---|---|
| cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:40:*:*:*:*:*:*:* | 40 | Vulnerable | Fedoraproject |
| cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:* | 4.14.0 | Vulnerable | Xen |
- cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:40:*:*:*:*:*:*:* Versions 40 Vulnerable ·Fedoraproject
- cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:* Versions 4.14.0 Vulnerable ·Xen
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2023-46841
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-mxh6-2xpg-m77w
References
More Xen vulnerabilities
- 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
Sources
- CVE-2023-46841 · CVE Program
- CVE-2023-46841 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-mxh6-2xpg-m77w · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2023-46841 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences