CVE-2019-18424
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing attackers to gain host OS privileges via DMA in a situation where an untrusted domain has access to a physical device.
Does this matter?
Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.50%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.
Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing attackers to gain host OS privileges via DMA in a situation where an untrusted domain has access to a physical device. This occurs because passed through PCI devices may corrupt host memory after deassignment. When a PCI device is assigned to an untrusted domain, it is possible for that domain to program the device to DMA to an arbitrary address. The IOMMU is used to protect the host from malicious DMA by making sure that the device addresses can only target memory assigned to the guest. However, when the guest domain is torn down, or the device is deassigned, the device is assigned back to dom0, thus allowing any in-flight DMA to potentially target critical host data. An untrusted domain with access to a physical device can DMA into host memory, leading to privilege escalation. Only systems where guests are given direct access to physical devices capable of DMA (PCI pass-through) are vulnerable. Systems which do not use PCI pass-through are not vulnerable.
- CVSS 3.1
- 6.8 MEDIUMCVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.50% probability · 42th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-78
- Affected
- xen/xen · debian/debian linux · fedoraproject/fedora · opensuse/leap
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 0.5% since 26 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.
References
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00037.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/10/31/6Mailing List, Mitigation, Third Party Advisory
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-302.htmlMitigation, Patch, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2BQKX7M2RHCWDBKNPX4KEBI3MJIH6AYZ/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I5WWPW4BSZDDW7VHU427XTVXV7ROOFFW/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IZYATWNUGHRBG6I3TC24YHP5Y3J7I6KH/
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/21Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-56Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4602Third Party Advisory
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00037.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/10/31/6Mailing List, Mitigation, Third Party Advisory
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-302.htmlMitigation, Patch, Vendor Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2BQKX7M2RHCWDBKNPX4KEBI3MJIH6AYZ/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/I5WWPW4BSZDDW7VHU427XTVXV7ROOFFW/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/IZYATWNUGHRBG6I3TC24YHP5Y3J7I6KH/
- https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2020/Jan/21Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-56Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4602Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.