Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.13.x, allowing Arm guest OS users to cause a hypervisor crash because of a missing alignment check in VCPUOP_register_vcpu_info. The hypercall VCPUOP_register_vcpu_info is used by a guest to register a shared region with the hypervisor. The region will be mapped into Xen address space so it can be directly accessed. On Arm, the region is accessed with instructions that require a specific alignment. Unfortunately, there is no check that the address provided by the guest will be correctly aligned. As a result, a malicious guest could cause a hypervisor crash by passing a misaligned address. A malicious guest administrator may cause a hypervisor crash, resulting in a Denial of Service (DoS). All Xen versions are vulnerable. Only Arm systems are vulnerable. x86 systems are not affected.
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 | 4.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | xen | 4.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | xen | 4.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1 | — |
| Debian 10 | xen | 4.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1~deb10u1 | DSA-4723-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | xen | 4.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1ubuntu2.3 | USN-5617-1 |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.24 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.23 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.22 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.21 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.20 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
Show 11 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.19 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.18 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.17 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.16 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.15 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.14 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.13 | xen | 4.13.1-r4 | — |
| Alpine v3.12 | xen | 4.13.1-r2 | — |
| Alpine v3.11 | xen | 4.13.1-r2 | — |
| Alpine v3.10 | xen | 4.12.3-r2 | — |
| Alpine v3.9 | xen | 4.11.4-r0 | — |
Advisories 2
- USN-5617-1 xen vulnerabilities Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Apr 27, 2026
- DSA-4723-1 xen - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
References
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-327.html
- [oss-security] 20200707 Xen Security Advisory 327 v3 (CVE-2020-15564) - Missing alignment check in VCPUOP_register_vcpu_info mailing-list
- DSA-4723 vendor-advisory
- FEDORA-2020-fbc13516af vendor-advisory
- FEDORA-2020-76cf2b0f0a vendor-advisory
- GLSA-202007-02 vendor-advisory