CVE-2019-18420 Information

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.

CVSS Vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Reference

http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00037.html http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/10/31/1 http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-296.html https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2BQKX7M2RHCWDBKNPX4KEBI3MJIH6AYZ/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I5WWPW4BSZDDW7VHU427XTVXV7ROOFFW/ https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IZYATWNUGHRBG6I3TC24YHP5Y3J7I6KH/ https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/21 https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-56 https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4602

Attack Complexity

LOW

Privileges Required

LOW

User Interaction Required

LOW

Scope

NONE

Confidentiality Impact

UNCHANGED

Integrity Impact

NONE

Availability Impact

NONE

Base Score

HIGH

Base Severity

6.5