Vulnerability Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.10.x. Certain PV MMU operations may take a long time to process. For that reason Xen explicitly checks for the need to preempt the current vCPU at certain points. A few rarely taken code paths did bypass such checks. By suitably enforcing the conditions through its own page table contents, a malicious guest may cause such bypasses to be used for an unbounded number of iterations. A malicious or buggy PV guest may cause a Denial of Service (DoS) affecting the entire host. Specifically, it may prevent use of a physical CPU for an indeterminate period of time. All Xen versions from 3.4 onwards are vulnerable. Xen versions 3.3 and earlier are vulnerable to an even wider class of attacks, due to them lacking preemption checks altogether in the affected code paths. Only x86 systems are affected. ARM systems are not affected. Only multi-vCPU x86 PV guests can leverage the vulnerability. x86 HVM or PVH guests as well as x86 single-vCPU PV ones cannot leverage the vulnerability.
CVSS Score
MEDIUM
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Debian | Debian Linux | 8.0 |
| Xen | Xen | <= 4.10.1 |
References
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/06/27/10Mailing ListPatchThird Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104570Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041201Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-264.htmlPatchVendor Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00013.htmlIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-06Third Party Advisory
- https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX235748Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4236Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/06/27/10Mailing ListPatchThird Party Advisory
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/104570Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041201Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-264.htmlPatchVendor Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00013.htmlIssue TrackingThird Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201810-06Third Party Advisory
- https://support.citrix.com/article/CTX235748Third Party Advisory
FAQ
What is CVE-2018-12891?
CVE-2018-12891 is a vulnerability with a CVSS score of 6.5 (MEDIUM). An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.10.x. Certain PV MMU operations may take a long time to process. For that reason Xen explicitly checks for the need to preempt the current vCPU at certain poin...
How severe is CVE-2018-12891?
CVE-2018-12891 has been rated MEDIUM with a CVSS base score of 6.5/10. Review the CVSS metrics above for detailed severity breakdown.
Is there a patch for CVE-2018-12891?
Check the references section above for vendor advisories and patch information. Affected products include: Debian Debian Linux, Xen Xen.