CVE-2020-29571

MEDIUM

Xen 4.4.0-4.14.x - Denial of Service via FIFO Event Channel NULL Pointer Dereference

Title source: llm
STIX 2.1

Description

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. A bounds check common to most operation time functions specific to FIFO event channels depends on the CPU observing consistent state. While the producer side uses appropriately ordered writes, the consumer side isn't protected against re-ordered reads, and may hence end up de-referencing a NULL pointer. Malicious or buggy guest kernels can mount a Denial of Service (DoS) attack affecting the entire system. Only Arm systems may be vulnerable. Whether a system is vulnerable depends on the specific CPU. x86 systems are not vulnerable.

References (5)

Core 5
Core References
Patch, Vendor Advisory x_refsource_misc
https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-359.html
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_debian
https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4812
Third Party Advisory vendor-advisory x_refsource_gentoo
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-30

Scores

CVSS v3 6.2
EPSS 0.0006
EPSS Percentile 18.2%
Attack Vector LOCAL
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Details

CWE
CWE-476
Status published
Products (4)
debian/debian_linux 10.0
fedoraproject/fedora 32
fedoraproject/fedora 33
xen/xen 4.4.0 - 4.14.0
Published Dec 15, 2020
Tracked Since Feb 18, 2026