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NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2019-18425: An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing 32-bit PV guest OS users to gain guest OS privileges by installing and using descript

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Plan (action score 40/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 2.5% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 85% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: xen (Alpine:v3.10) 4.12.1-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.11) 4.13.0-r0; xen (Alpine:v3.8) 4.10.4-r1.

Add it to your regular patch cycle. Upgrade to xen (Alpine:v3.10) 4.12.1-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.11) 4.13.0-r0; xen (Alpine:v3.8) 4.10.4-r1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing 32-bit PV guest OS users to gain guest OS privileges by installing and using descriptors. There is missing descriptor table limit checking in x86 PV emulation. When emulating certain PV guest operations, descriptor table accesses are performed by the emulating code. Such accesses should respect the guest specified limits, unless otherwise guaranteed to fail in such a case. Without this, emulation of 32-bit guest user mode calls through call gates would allow guest user mode to install and then use descriptors of their choice, as long as the guest kernel did not itself install an LDT. (Most OSes don't install any LDT by default). 32-bit PV guest user mode can elevate its privileges to that of the guest kernel. Xen versions from at least 3.2 onwards are affected. Only 32-bit PV guest user mode can leverage this vulnerability. HVM, PVH, as well as 64-bit PV guests cannot leverage this vulnerability. Arm systems are unaffected.

CriticalCVSS 9.8 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Oct 31, 2019
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
2.5% · 85th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

40

Plan

Add it to your regular patch cycle.

CVSS
39 / 40 · 9.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 2.5%

Get told when this record changes

  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

If any of these changes, we'll tell you in the daily email digest.

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When you'll hear from us

  • when it enters CISA KEV
  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
xenxen
debiandebian linux
fedoraprojectfedora
opensuseleap

Affected versions

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • debian debian linux10.0
  • debian debian linux9.0
  • fedoraproject fedora29
  • fedoraproject fedora30
  • fedoraproject fedora31
  • opensuse leap15.0
  • xen xenup to 4.12.1 inclusive

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.10xenbefore 4.12.1-r14.12.1-r1
Alpine:v3.11xenbefore 4.13.0-r04.13.0-r0
Alpine:v3.8xenbefore 4.10.4-r14.10.4-r1
Alpine:v3.9xenbefore 4.11.2-r14.11.2-r1
Debian:10xenbefore 4.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1~deb10u14.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1~deb10u1
Debian:12xenbefore 4.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-14.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1
Debian:9xenbefore 4.8.5.final+shim4.10.4-1+deb9u124.8.5.final+shim4.10.4-1+deb9u12
openSUSE:Leap 15.0xenbefore 4.10.4_06-lp150.2.25.14.10.4_06-lp150.2.25.1
SUSE:HPE Helion OpenStack 8xenbefore 4.9.4_06-3.59.14.9.4_06-3.59.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP4xenbefore 4.11.2_04-2.17.14.11.2_04-2.17.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15xenbefore 4.10.4_06-3.25.14.10.4_06-3.25.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1xenbefore 4.12.1_04-3.6.14.12.1_04-3.6.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 11 SP3xenbefore 4.2.5_22-45.36.14.2.5_22-45.36.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4-LTSSxenbefore 4.4.4_42-61.52.14.4.4_42-61.52.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP1xenbefore 4.5.5_28-22.64.14.5.5_28-22.64.1
SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7xenbefore 4.7.6_06-43.59.14.7.6_06-43.59.1

Same product

xen: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2017-10921The grant-table feature in Xen through 4.8.x does not ensure sufficient type counts for a GNTMAP_device_map and GNTMAP_host_map mapping, whi
    41Plan
  • CVE-2017-10920The grant-table feature in Xen through 4.8.x mishandles a GNTMAP_device_map and GNTMAP_host_map mapping, when followed by only a GNTMAP_host
    41Plan
  • CVE-2017-10918Xen through 4.8.x does not validate memory allocations during certain P2M operations, which allows guest OS users to obtain privileged host
    41Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-18423Oct 31, 2019 · 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
    36Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-18424Oct 31, 2019 · 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
    27Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2019-19579Dec 4, 2019 · 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
    27Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
alpine:xen4.12.1-r1 · Alpine:v3.10Package registry (OSV)
debian:xen4.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:xen4.10.4_06-lp150.2.25.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.0Package registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.10.4_06-3.25.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

No history yet (it accumulates with the daily EPSS job).

Patch and commit links

Commit, PR and diff links among the references. A starting point for patch-diffing and variant hunting; fixes, not exploits.

No commit or PR link among the references.

Credits

All researchers

Finders, reporters and analysts named in the CNA record. Click a name for that researcher’s other records.

No credits in the CNA record.

Variant candidates

Same product, same weakness class, within 18 months. If the patch missed the root cause, the sibling bug is here.

No nightly-computed relations.

Chain candidates

An authentication bypass and a privilege-requiring bug in the same product, published close together: combined they may become an unauthenticated path.

—

Bug bounty scope

No known public program.

Source: bounty-targets-data (public HackerOne, Bugcrowd, Intigriti, YesWeHack listings).

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-269 · Improper Privilege Management

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

nvd-primary

Root cause

To simplify setup, a service account is granted broad, cluster-wide permissions. The principle of least privilege is skipped during installation.

The bug in code

The whole CWE-269 class

A representative example of this vulnerability class. Not the vendor's source code; it shows the faulty pattern and its fix.

Vulnerable

yaml
kind: ClusterRolerules:  - apiGroups: ["*"]    resources: ["*"]    verbs: ["*"]

Fixed

yaml
kind: Rolemetadata:  namespace: lodos-systemrules:  - apiGroups: ["apps"]    resources: ["deployments"]    verbs: ["get", "list", "update"]

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

For records you follow, these changes also arrive as notifications. →

References

Show all references (8 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records