Description
Xen 4.1.1 and earlier allows local guest OS kernels with control of a PCI[E] device to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption and host hang) via many crafted DMA requests that are denied by the IOMMU, which triggers a livelock.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | xen | 4.1.2-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | xen | 4.1.2-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | xen | 4.1.2-1 | — |
| Debian 6.0 | xen | 4.0.1-5.5 | DSA-2582-1 |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 5 | kernel +11 | 2.6.18-274.7.1.el5 | RHSA-2011:1386 |
Advisories 2
- RHSA-2011:1386 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security, bug fix, and enhancement update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 28, 2026
- DSA-2582-1 xen - denial of service Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- http://xenbits.xen.org/hg/staging/xen-4.1-testing.hg/rev/84e3706df07a
- DSA-2582 vendor-advisory
- 45622 third-party-advisory
- [Xen-devel] 20110812 Xen Advisory 5 (CVE-2011-3131) IOMMU fault livelock mailing-list
- 51468 third-party-advisory
- [Xen-devel] 20110616 IOMMU faults mailing-list
- 49146 vdb-entry