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Noroxi
NVD / CVE Program· CNA XEN

CVE-2023-46842: x86 HVM hypercalls may trigger Xen bug check

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 29/100)

  • 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: 8.5% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 95% of all records.
  • 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) 4.16.6-r0; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.4-r0; xen (Alpine:v3.19) 4.18.2-r0.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to xen (Alpine:v3.16) 4.16.6-r0; xen (Alpine:v3.18) 4.17.4-r0; xen (Alpine:v3.19) 4.18.2-r0 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

Unlike 32-bit PV guests, HVM guests may switch freely between 64-bit and other modes. This in particular means that they may set registers used to pass 32-bit-mode hypercall arguments to values outside of the range 32-bit code would be able to set them to. When processing of hypercalls takes a considerable amount of time, the hypervisor may choose to invoke a hypercall continuation. Doing so involves putting (perhaps updated) hypercall arguments in respective registers. For guests not running in 64-bit mode this further involves a certain amount of translation of the values. Unfortunately internal sanity checking of these translated values assumes high halves of registers to always be clear when invoking a hypercall. When this is found not to be the case, it triggers a consistency check in the hypervisor and causes a crash.

MediumCVSS 6.5 · v3.1—No exploit Fix available
Published
May 16, 2024
Updated
Jun 17, 2026
EPSS
8.5% · 95th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

29

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
26 / 40 · 6.5 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
3 / 30 · 8.5%

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-2023-46842

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
fedoraprojectfedora

Affected versions

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

  • fedoraproject fedora38
  • fedoraproject fedora40
  • xen xen3.2.0 and later

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-454unknown

Package-level exposure

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

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Alpine:v3.16xenfrom 3.2.0 · before 4.16.6-r04.16.6-r0
Alpine:v3.18xenfrom 3.2.0 · before 4.17.4-r04.17.4-r0
Alpine:v3.19xenfrom 3.2.0 · before 4.18.2-r04.18.2-r0
Debian:12xenbefore 4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-14.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1
Debian:13xenbefore 4.19.1-14.19.1-1
openSUSE:Leap 15.5xenbefore 4.17.4_02-150500.3.30.14.17.4_02-150500.3.30.1
openSUSE:Leap 15.6xenbefore 4.18.2_06-150600.3.3.14.18.2_06-150600.3.3.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.6_02-150400.4.55.14.16.6_02-150400.4.55.1
openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.4_04-150500.3.33.14.17.4_04-150500.3.33.1
openSUSE:Tumbleweedxenbefore 4.18.2_02-1.14.18.2_02-1.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15 SP2-LTSSxenbefore 4.13.5_12-150200.3.93.14.13.5_12-150200.3.93.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.1xenbefore 4.14.6_14-150300.3.72.14.14.6_14-150300.3.72.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3xenbefore 4.16.6_02-150400.4.55.14.16.6_02-150400.4.55.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.4_04-150500.3.33.14.17.4_04-150500.3.33.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.5xenbefore 4.17.4_02-150500.3.30.14.17.4_02-150500.3.30.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP6xenbefore 4.18.2_06-150600.3.3.14.18.2_06-150600.3.3.1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5xenbefore 4.12.4_48-3.109.14.12.4_48-3.109.1

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-2023-46839Mar 20, 2024 · pci: phantom functions assigned to incorrect contexts
    21Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2023-46840Mar 20, 2024 · VT-d: Failure to quarantine devices in !HVM builds
    16Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2024-31142May 16, 2024 · x86: Incorrect logic for BTC/SRSO mitigations
    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:xen4.16.6-r0 · Alpine:v3.16Package registry (OSV)
debian:xen4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
opensuse:xen4.16.6_02-150400.4.55.1 · openSUSE:Leap Micro 5.3Package registry (OSV)
suse:xen4.16.6_02-150400.4.55.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.3Package 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
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)

CWE-843 · Access of Resource Using Incompatible Type ('Type Confusion')

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.

Change log

  1. Fix✗ → ✓

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

References

Show all references (3 more)

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

All records