CVE-2019-18420

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.

• CWE-134

• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00037.htmlBroken Link, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/10/31/1Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
• http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-296.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2BQKX7M2RHCWDBKNPX4KEBI3MJIH6AYZ/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I5WWPW4BSZDDW7VHU427XTVXV7ROOFFW/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IZYATWNUGHRBG6I3TC24YHP5Y3J7I6KH/
• https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/21Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-56Third Party Advisory
• https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4602Third Party Advisory
• http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00037.htmlBroken Link, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
• http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/10/31/1Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
• http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-296.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2BQKX7M2RHCWDBKNPX4KEBI3MJIH6AYZ/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I5WWPW4BSZDDW7VHU427XTVXV7ROOFFW/
• https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IZYATWNUGHRBG6I3TC24YHP5Y3J7I6KH/
• https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/21Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
• https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-56Third Party Advisory
• https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4602Third Party Advisory

Published

Oct 31, 2019

Last Modified

Jun 17, 2026

Status

Modified