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NVD / CVE Program· CNA XEN

CVE-2024-45818: Deadlock in x86 HVM standard VGA handling

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: 0.27% (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:v3.17) 4.16.6-r3; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.5-r2; xen (Alpine:v3.19) 4.18.3-r2.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to xen (Alpine:v3.17) 4.16.6-r3; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.5-r2; xen (Alpine:v3.19) 4.18.3-r2 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 hypervisor contains code to accelerate VGA memory accesses for HVM guests, when the (virtual) VGA is in "standard" mode. Locking involved there has an unusual discipline, leaving a lock acquired past the return from the function that acquired it. This behavior results in a problem when emulating an instruction with two memory accesses, both of which touch VGA memory (plus some further constraints which aren't relevant here). When emulating the 2nd access, the lock that is already being held would be attempted to be re-acquired, resulting in a deadlock. This deadlock was already found when the code was first introduced, but was analysed incorrectly and the fix was incomplete. Analysis in light of the new finding cannot find a way to make the existing locking discipline work. In staging, this logic has all been removed because it was discovered to be accidentally disabled since Xen 4.7. Therefore, we are fixing the locking problem by backporting the removal of most of the feature. Note that even with the feature disabled, the lock would still be acquired for any accesses to the VGA MMIO region.

MediumCVSS 6.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
Dec 19, 2024
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
0.2% · 19th percentile

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.

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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

Affected versions

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

  • xen xen4.6.0 and later · before 4.20.0

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-463unknown

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.17xenfrom 4.6.0 · before 4.16.6-r34.16.6-r3
Alpine:v3.18xenfrom 4.6.0 · before 4.17.5-r24.17.5-r2
Alpine:v3.19xenfrom 4.6.0 · before 4.18.3-r24.18.3-r2
Alpine:v3.21xenfrom 4.6.0 · before 4.19.0-r14.19.0-r1
Debian:12xenbefore 4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-14.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1
Debian:13xenbefore 4.19.1-14.19.1-1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6xenbefore 4.18.3_06-150600.3.12.14.18.3_06-150600.3.12.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.14.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedxenbefore 4.19.0_06-1.14.19.0_06-1.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSSxenbefore 4.13.5_16-150200.3.99.14.13.5_16-150200.3.99.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSSxenbefore 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.14.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.14.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.14.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6xenbefore 4.18.3_06-150600.3.12.14.18.3_06-150600.3.12.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5-LTSSxenbefore 4.12.4_58-3.124.14.12.4_58-3.124.1

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-2024-31146Sep 25, 2024 · PCI device pass-through with shared resources
    30Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2024-45817Sep 25, 2024 · x86: Deadlock in vlapic_error()
    29Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2024-45819Dec 19, 2024 · libxl leaks data to PVH guests via ACPI tables
    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:xen4.16.6-r3 · Alpine:v3.17Package registry (OSV)
debian:xen4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:xen4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1 · openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.5Package registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP3-LTSSPackage registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1 · 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.

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

  • 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

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
High
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
None

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-667 · Improper Locking

CVSS vector

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

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.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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

References

Show all references (2 more)

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

All records