CVE-2026-23554
Last modified
CVE-2026-23554 is a high-severity vulnerability rated 7.8/10 on the CVSS scale. The Intel EPT paging code uses an optimization to defer flushing of any cached EPT state until the p2m lock is dropped, so that multiple modifications done under the same locked region only issue a single flush. Freeing of paging structures however is not deferred until the flushing is done, and can result in freed pages transiently being present in cached state. Such stale entries can point to memory ranges not owned by the guest, thus allowing access to unintended memory regions.. EPSS estimates a 0.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days.
Description
The Intel EPT paging code uses an optimization to defer flushing of any cached EPT state until the p2m lock is dropped, so that multiple modifications done under the same locked region only issue a single flush. Freeing of paging structures however is not deferred until the flushing is done, and can result in freed pages transiently being present in cached state. Such stale entries can point to memory ranges not owned by the guest, thus allowing access to unintended memory regions.
Metrics
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
Weakness Enumeration
Affected Software
| Vendor | Product | Versions |
|---|---|---|
| Xen | Xen | >= 4.17 |
References
- https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-480.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2026/03/17/6Mailing List, Patch, Third Party Advisory
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-480.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
Timeline
- Published
- Last Modified
- Status
- Analyzed
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