Xen xenstored watch DoS (XSA-348)

medium Nessus Plugin ID 144714

Language:

Synopsis

The remote Xen hypervisor installation is missing a security update.

Description

According to its self-reported version number, the Xen hypervisor installed on the remote host is affected by a denial of service vulnerability. When they require assistance from the device model, x86 HVM guests must be temporarily de-scheduled. The device model will signal Xen when it has completed its operation, via an event channel, so that the relevant vCPU is rescheduled. If the device model were to signal Xen without having actually completed the operation, the de-schedule / re-schedule cycle would repeat. If, in addition, Xen is resignalled very quickly, the re-schedule may occur before the de-schedule was fully complete, triggering a shortcut. This potentially repeating process uses ordinary recursive function calls, and thus could result in a stack overflow. A malicious or buggy stubdomain serving a HVM guest can cause Xen to crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS) to the entire host. Only x86 systems are affected. Arm systems are not affected. Only x86 stubdomains serving HVM guests can exploit the vulnerability.

Note that Nessus has not tested for this issue but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Apply the appropriate patch or workaround according to the vendor advisory.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 144714

File Name: xen_server_XSA-348.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: local

Family: Misc.

Published: 1/5/2021

Updated: 6/3/2021

Configuration: Enable paranoid mode

Supported Sensors: Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.9

Temporal Score: 3.6

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2020-29566

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:xen:xen

Required KB Items: Settings/ParanoidReport, installed_sw/Xen Hypervisor

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 12/15/2020

Vulnerability Publication Date: 12/15/2020

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2020-29566

IAVB: 2020-B-0077-S

Detections

Analytics