CVE-2019-18420

Published Oct 31, 2019

Last updated a year ago

Overview

Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing x86 PV guest OS users to cause a denial of service via a VCPUOP_initialise hypercall. hypercall_create_continuation() is a variadic function which uses a printf-like format string to interpret its parameters. Error handling for a bad format character was done using BUG(), which crashes Xen. One path, via the VCPUOP_initialise hypercall, has a bad format character. The BUG() can be hit if VCPUOP_initialise executes for a sufficiently long period of time for a continuation to be created. Malicious guests may cause a hypervisor crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). Xen versions 4.6 and newer are vulnerable. Xen versions 4.5 and earlier are not vulnerable. Only x86 PV guests can exploit the vulnerability. HVM and PVH guests, and guests on ARM systems, cannot exploit the vulnerability.
Source
cve@mitre.org
NVD status
Modified

Risk scores

CVSS 3.1

Type
Primary
Base score
6.5
Impact score
3.6
Exploitability score
2.8
Vector string
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Severity
MEDIUM

CVSS 2.0

Type
Primary
Base score
6.3
Impact score
6.9
Exploitability score
6.8
Vector string
AV:N/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:C

Weaknesses

nvd@nist.gov
CWE-134

Social media

Hype score
Not currently trending

Configurations