CVE-2019-19583
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing x86 HVM/PVH guest OS users to cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) because VMX VMEntry checks mishandle a certain case.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (2.41%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing x86 HVM/PVH guest OS users to cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) because VMX VMEntry checks mishandle a certain case. Please see XSA-260 for background on the MovSS shadow. Please see XSA-156 for background on the need for #DB interception. The VMX VMEntry checks do not like the exact combination of state which occurs when #DB in intercepted, Single Stepping is active, and blocked by STI/MovSS is active, despite this being a legitimate state to be in. The resulting VMEntry failure is fatal to the guest. HVM/PVH guest userspace code may be able to crash the guest, resulting in a guest Denial of Service. All versions of Xen are affected. Only systems supporting VMX hardware virtual extensions (Intel, Cyrix, or Zhaoxin CPUs) are affected. Arm and AMD systems are unaffected. Only HVM/PVH guests are affected. PV guests cannot leverage the vulnerability.
- CVSS 3.1
- 7.5 HIGHCVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
- EPSS
- 2.41% probability · 84th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Affected
- xen/xen · fedoraproject/fedora · opensuse/leap · debian/debian linux
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS 2.4% 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/2020-01/msg00011.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/34HBFTYNMQMWIO2GGK7DB6KV4M6R5YPV/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/D5R73AYE53QA32KTMHUVKCX6E52CIS43/
- 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
- https://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-308.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-01/msg00011.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/34HBFTYNMQMWIO2GGK7DB6KV4M6R5YPV/
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/D5R73AYE53QA32KTMHUVKCX6E52CIS43/
- 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
- https://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-308.htmlPatch, Vendor Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.