Description
Xen 4.0, and 4.1, when running a 64-bit PV guest on "older" AMD CPUs, does not properly protect against a certain AMD processor bug, which allows local guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host hang) via sequential execution of instructions across a non-canonical boundary, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-0217.
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 | 4.1.3~rc1+hg-20120614.a9c0a89c08f2-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | xen | 4.1.3~rc1+hg-20120614.a9c0a89c08f2-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | xen | 4.1.3~rc1+hg-20120614.a9c0a89c08f2-1 | — |
| Debian 6.0 | xen | 4.0.1-5.2 | DSA-2501-1 |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 5 | kernel +12 | 2.6.18-308.8.2.el5 | RHSA-2012:0721 |
Advisories 2
- RHSA-2012:0721 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 26, 2026
- DSA-2501-1 xen - several Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- 55082 third-party-advisory
- http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_TechDocs/25759.pdf
- 53961 vdb-entry
- 51413 third-party-advisory
- GLSA-201309-24 vendor-advisory
- DSA-2501 vendor-advisory
- openSUSE-SU-2012:1572 vendor-advisory
- [Xen-announce] 20120612 [Xen-announce] Xen Security Advisory 9 (CVE-2012-2934) - PV guest host DoS (AMD erratum #121) mailing-list
- openSUSE-SU-2012:1573 vendor-advisory