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NVD / CVE Program· CNA mitre

CVE-2020-11739: An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.13.x, allowing guest OS users to cause a denial of service or possibly gain privileges because of…

HighCVSS 7.8 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 31/100)

  • 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: 0.28% (FIRST EPSS).
  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it. A low-privileged account is enough. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: xen (Alpine:v3.10) 4.12.2-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.11) 4.13.0-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.12) 4.13.0-r3.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to xen (Alpine:v3.10) 4.12.2-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.11) 4.13.0-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.12) 4.13.0-r3 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 4.13.x, allowing guest OS users to cause a denial of service or possibly gain privileges because of missing memory barriers in read-write unlock paths. The read-write unlock paths don't contain a memory barrier. On Arm, this means a processor is allowed to re-order the memory access with the preceding ones. In other words, the unlock may be seen by another processor before all the memory accesses within the "critical" section. As a consequence, it may be possible to have a writer executing a critical section at the same time as readers or another writer. In other words, many of the assumptions (e.g., a variable cannot be modified after a check) in the critical sections are not safe anymore. The read-write locks are used in hypercalls (such as grant-table ones), so a malicious guest could exploit the race. For instance, there is a small window where Xen can leak memory if XENMAPSPACE_grant_table is used concurrently. A malicious guest may be able to leak memory, or cause a hypervisor crash resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). Information leak and privilege escalation cannot be excluded.

Published
Apr 14, 2020
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 21th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

31

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
31 / 40 · 7.8 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

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
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  • 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
fedoraprojectfedora
debiandebian linux
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
  • fedoraproject fedora30
  • fedoraproject fedora31
  • fedoraproject fedora32
  • opensuse leap15.1
  • xen xenup to 4.13.0 inclusive
  • xen xen4.13.0

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.10xenbefore 4.12.2-r14.12.2-r1
Alpine:v3.11xenbefore 4.13.0-r14.13.0-r1
Alpine:v3.12xenbefore 4.13.0-r34.13.0-r3
Alpine:v3.8xenbefore 4.10.4-r34.10.4-r3
Alpine:v3.9xenbefore 4.11.3-r24.11.3-r2
Debian:10xenbefore 4.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1~deb10u14.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1~deb10u1
Debian:12xenbefore 4.11.4-14.11.4-1
openSUSE:Leap 15.1xenbefore 4.12.2_04-lp151.2.15.14.12.2_04-lp151.2.15.1
SUSE:HPE Helion OpenStack 8xenbefore 4.9.4_06-3.62.14.9.4_06-3.62.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-ESPOSxenbefore 4.10.4_10-3.31.14.10.4_10-3.31.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1xenbefore 4.12.2_04-3.15.14.12.2_04-3.15.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP4xenbefore 4.11.3_04-2.23.14.11.3_04-2.23.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5xenbefore 4.12.2_04-3.11.14.12.2_04-3.11.1
SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 7xenbefore 4.7.6_08-43.64.14.7.6_08-43.64.1

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…
    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…
    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-2019-19582Dec 11, 2019 · An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing x86 guest OS users to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) because certain bit…
    26Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2019-19583Dec 11, 2019 · 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…
    31Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2020-11740Apr 14, 2020 · An issue was discovered in xenoprof in Xen through 4.13.x, allowing guest OS users (without active profiling) to obtain sensitive…
    22Monitor

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:xen4.12.2-r1 · Alpine:v3.10Package registry (OSV)
debian:xen4.11.4-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:xen4.12.2_04-lp151.2.15.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.1Package registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.12.2_04-3.15.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1Package 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.

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

Official security notices citing this record; remediation advice is on the agency's page.

All national notices →

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Someone with local access to the system can trigger it.
  • A low-privileged account is enough.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
high · data or configuration can be modified
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted

Impact can extend beyond the vulnerable component (scope changes).

Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
High
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-362 · Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')

CVSS vector

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

nvd-primary

Attack context

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

ATT&CK techniques

—

References

Show all references (8 more)

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

All records