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NVD / CVE Program· CNA XEN

CVE-2023-46835: x86/AMD: mismatch in IOMMU quarantine page table levels

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 22/100)

  • 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. No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.
  • Fixed version: xen (Alpine:v3.15) 4.15.5-r3; xen (Alpine:v3.16) 4.16.5-r4; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.2-r4.
  • Mentioned 1 time in Turkish national cyber security advisories (siberguvenlik.gov.tr).

Low priority for now. Upgrade to xen (Alpine:v3.15) 4.15.5-r3; xen (Alpine:v3.16) 4.16.5-r4; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.2-r4 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

The current setup of the quarantine page tables assumes that the quarantine domain (dom_io) has been initialized with an address width of DEFAULT_DOMAIN_ADDRESS_WIDTH (48) and hence 4 page table levels. However dom_io being a PV domain gets the AMD-Vi IOMMU page tables levels based on the maximum (hot pluggable) RAM address, and hence on systems with no RAM above the 512GB mark only 3 page-table levels are configured in the IOMMU. On systems without RAM above the 512GB boundary amd_iommu_quarantine_init() will setup page tables for the scratch page with 4 levels, while the IOMMU will be configured to use 3 levels only, resulting in the last page table directory (PDE) effectively becoming a page table entry (PTE), and hence a device in quarantine mode gaining write access to the page destined to be a PDE. Due to this page table level mismatch, the sink page the device gets read/write access to is no longer cleared between device assignment, possibly leading to data leaks.

MediumCVSS 5.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Jan 5, 2024
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 21th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

22

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
22 / 40 · 5.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
0 / 30 · 0.2%

CISA SSVC decision

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial

Vulnrichment: CISA's decision-tree inputs.

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

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When you'll hear from us

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  • 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

Affected versions

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

  • xen xenall versions

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (XEN). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Xen Xen

    • consult Xen advisory XSA-445unknown

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.15xenbefore 4.15.5-r34.15.5-r3
Alpine:v3.16xenbefore 4.16.5-r44.16.5-r4
Alpine:v3.18xenbefore 4.17.2-r44.17.2-r4
Debian:12xenbefore 4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1~deb12u14.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1~deb12u1
Debian:13xenbefore 4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-14.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5xenbefore 4.17.2_08-150500.3.15.14.17.2_08-150500.3.15.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5xenbefore 4.17.3_02-150500.3.18.14.17.3_02-150500.3.18.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.5_08-150400.4.40.14.16.5_08-150400.4.40.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedxenbefore 4.18.0_02-1.14.18.0_02-1.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP1-LTSSxenbefore 4.12.4_42-150100.3.98.14.12.4_42-150100.3.98.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSSxenbefore 4.13.5_08-150200.3.83.14.13.5_08-150200.3.83.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOSxenbefore 4.14.6_08-150300.3.60.14.14.6_08-150300.3.60.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.5_08-150400.4.40.14.16.5_08-150400.4.40.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.3_02-150500.3.18.14.17.3_02-150500.3.18.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.2_08-150500.3.15.14.17.2_08-150500.3.15.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5xenbefore 4.12.4_42-3.100.14.12.4_42-3.100.1

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-2023-34327Jan 5, 2024 · x86/AMD: Debug Mask handling
    22Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-34328Jan 5, 2024 · x86/AMD: Debug Mask handling
    22Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2023-46836Jan 5, 2024 · x86: BTC/SRSO fixes not fully effective
    18Monitor

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:xen4.15.5-r3 · Alpine:v3.15Package registry (OSV)
debian:xen4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1~deb12u1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:xen4.17.2_08-150500.3.15.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5Package registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.14.6_08-150300.3.60.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-ESPOSPackage registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.17.2_08-150500.3.15.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5Package 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.

Variant candidates

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

  • CVE-2023-343250 days apartMultiple vulnerabilities in libfsimage disk handling
    31Monitor

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).

National notice (Türkiye Cybersecurity Directorate / USOM)

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

All national notices →

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.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
high · data can be read
Integrity
none
Availability
none
Attack vector
Local
Attack complexity
Low
Privileges required
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
High
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds Write

CVSS vector

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

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.

MITRE has no CAPEC/ATT&CK mapping for this CWE.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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

References

Show all references (1 more)

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

All records