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NVD / CVE Program· CNA XEN

CVE-2023-46841: x86: shadow stack vs exceptions from emulation stubs

MediumCVSS 6.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 26/100)

  • 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: 0.26% (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:v3.16) 4.16.5-r7; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.3-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.19) 4.18.0-r4.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to xen (Alpine:v3.16) 4.16.5-r7; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.3-r1; xen (Alpine:v3.19) 4.18.0-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

Recent x86 CPUs offer functionality named Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET). A sub-feature of this are Shadow Stacks (CET-SS). CET-SS is a hardware feature designed to protect against Return Oriented Programming attacks. When enabled, traditional stacks holding both data and return addresses are accompanied by so called "shadow stacks", holding little more than return addresses. Shadow stacks aren't writable by normal instructions, and upon function returns their contents are used to check for possible manipulation of a return address coming from the traditional stack. In particular certain memory accesses need intercepting by Xen. In various cases the necessary emulation involves kind of replaying of the instruction. Such replaying typically involves filling and then invoking of a stub. Such a replayed instruction may raise an exceptions, which is expected and dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately the interaction of both of the above wasn't right: Recovery involves removal of a call frame from the (traditional) stack. The counterpart of this operation for the shadow stack was missing.

Published
Mar 20, 2024
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 19th percentile
CWE
—

Report tools

JSON

Action score

26

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
26 / 40 · 6.5 / 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

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

Follow CVE-2023-46841

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
fedoraprojectfedora
xenxen

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-451unknown

Affected versions

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

  • fedoraproject fedora40
  • xen xen4.14.0 and later

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.16xenfrom 4.14.0 · before 4.16.5-r74.16.5-r7
Alpine:v3.18xenfrom 4.14.0 · before 4.17.3-r14.17.3-r1
Alpine:v3.19xenfrom 4.14.0 · before 4.18.0-r44.18.0-r4
Debian:12xenbefore 4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-14.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1
Debian:13xenbefore 4.17.3+36-g54dacb5c02-14.17.3+36-g54dacb5c02-1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5xenbefore 4.17.3_06-150500.3.24.14.17.3_06-150500.3.24.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5xenbefore 4.17.3_08-150500.3.27.14.17.3_08-150500.3.27.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.5_14-150400.4.49.14.16.5_14-150400.4.49.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedxenbefore 4.18.0_06-2.14.18.0_06-2.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1xenbefore 4.14.6_12-150300.3.66.14.14.6_12-150300.3.66.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.5_14-150400.4.49.14.16.5_14-150400.4.49.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.3_08-150500.3.27.14.17.3_08-150500.3.27.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.3_06-150500.3.24.14.17.3_06-150500.3.24.1

Same product

fedoraproject: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2018-1111DHCP packages in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 and 7, Fedora 28, and earlier are vulnerable to a command injection flaw in the NetworkManager…
    59Plan
  • CVE-2024-24576Rusts's `std::process::Command` did not properly escape arguments of batch files on Windows
    46Plan
  • CVE-2016-7167Multiple integer overflows in the (1) curl_escape, (2) curl_easy_escape, (3) curl_unescape, and (4) curl_easy_unescape functions in libcurl…
    43Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-30623Sep 3, 2021 · Chromium: CVE-2021-30623 Use after free in Bookmarks
    36Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2021-30624Sep 3, 2021 · Chromium: CVE-2021-30624 Use after free in Autofill
    36Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2024-38276Jun 18, 2024 · moodle: CSRF risks due to misuse of confirm_sesskey
    35Monitor

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:xen4.16.5-r7 · Alpine:v3.16Package registry (OSV)
debian:xen4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:xen4.17.3_06-150500.3.24.1 · openSUSE:Leap 15.5Package registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.17.3_06-150500.3.24.1 · 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.

Credits

All researchers

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

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · 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.
  • No special conditions are required; it is repeatable.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted

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

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

Weakness class (CWE)

—

CVSS vector

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

nvd-secondary

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.

References

Show all references (3 more)

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

All records