An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing ARM guest OS users to cause a denial of service via a XENMEM_add_to_physmap hypercall. p2m->max_mapped_gfn is used by the functions p2m_resolve_translation_fault() and p2m_get_entry() to sanity check guest physical frame. The rest of the code in the two functions will assume that there is a valid root table and check that with BUG_ON(). The function p2m_get_root_pointer() will ignore the unused top bits of a guest physical frame. This means that the function p2m_set_entry() will alias the frame. However, p2m->max_mapped_gfn will be updated using the original frame. It would be possible to set p2m->max_mapped_gfn high enough to cover a frame that would lead p2m_get_root_pointer() to return NULL in p2m_get_entry() and p2m_resolve_translation_fault(). Additionally, the sanity check on p2m->max_mapped_gfn is off-by-one allowing "highest mapped + 1" to be considered valid. However, p2m_get_root_pointer() will return NULL. The problem could be triggered with a specially crafted hypercall XENMEM_add_to_physmap{, _batch} followed by an access to an address (via hypercall or direct access) that passes the sanity check but cause p2m_get_root_pointer() to return NULL. A malicious guest administrator may cause a hypervisor crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). Xen version 4.8 and newer are vulnerable. Only Arm systems are vulnerable. x86 systems are not affected.
| Product | Vendor Advisory | Solution File | Added | Published |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine Linux | — | Upgrade xen | Jan 3, 2020 | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Debian | — | Upgrade xen | Jan 16, 2020 | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Gentoo Linux | — | Upgrade app-emulation/xen-tools.Upgrade app-emulation/xen. | Mar 27, 2020 | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Suse | — | Upgrade xen-libs-32bitUpgrade xen-toolsUpgrade xen-libsUpgrade xen-develUpgrade xen-doc-htmlUpgrade xen-tools-domUUpgrade xen | Nov 15, 2019 | Oct 31, 2019 |
| Ubuntu | — | No solution exists | Jun 26, 2025 | Oct 31, 2019 |
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