Description
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.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Xen | Xen | — | — |
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 | 4.19.1-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | xen | 4.19.1-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | xen | 4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1 | DSA-5836-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 26.10 | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 26.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 25.10 | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 24.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 22.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 20.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | xen | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 SP6 | xen | 4.18.3_06-150600.3.12.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4163-1 |
| SLES 15 SP5 | xen | 4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3980-1 |
| SLES 15 SP4 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SLES 15 SP3 | xen | 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 |
| SLES 15 SP2 | xen | 4.13.5_16-150200.3.99.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4073-1 |
Show 15 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 12 SP5 | xen | 4.12.4_58-3.124.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3979-1 |
| SLES for SAP 15 SP4 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SLES for SAP 15 SP3 | xen | 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 |
| SLES for SAP 15 SP2 | xen | 4.13.5_16-150200.3.99.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4073-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.5 | xen | 4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3980-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.4 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.3 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.2 | xen | 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 |
| SLE Micro 5.1 | xen | 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 |
| SLE HPC 15 SP4 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SLE HPC 15 SP3 | xen | 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 |
| SLE HPC 15 SP2 | xen | 4.13.5_16-150200.3.99.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4073-1 |
| SUSE Manager Server 4.3 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SUSE Manager Proxy 4.3 | xen | 4.16.6_06-150400.4.65.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 |
| SUSE Enterprise Storage 7.1 | xen | 4.14.6_22-150300.3.84.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | xen | 4.19.0_06-1.1 | openSUSE-SU-2024:14530-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 15.6 | xen | 4.18.3_06-150600.3.12.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:4163-1 |
| openSUSE Leap 15.5 | xen | 4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3980-1 |
Show 1 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Leap Micro 5.5 | xen | 4.17.5_06-150500.3.42.1 | SUSE-SU-2024:3980-1 |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.24 | xen | 4.19.0-r1 | — |
| Alpine v3.23 | xen | 4.19.0-r1 | — |
| Alpine v3.22 | xen | 4.19.0-r1 | — |
| Alpine v3.21 | xen | 4.19.0-r1 | — |
| Alpine v3.20 | xen | 4.18.3-r2 | — |
Show 3 more (older releases, extended support, other products)Fewer releases
| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.19 | xen | 4.18.3-r2 | — |
| Alpine v3.18 | xen | 4.17.5-r2 | — |
| Alpine v3.17 | xen | 4.16.6-r3 | — |
Advisories 9
- DSA-5836-1 xen - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:14530-1 xen-4.19.0_06-1.1 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2024:3980-1 Security update for xen SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2024:3979-1 Security update for xen SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2024:3977-1 Security update for xen SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2024:4163-1 Security update for xen SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2024:4116-1 Security update for xen SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2024:4073-1 Security update for xen SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- WID-SEC-2024-3410 Xen: Mehrere Schwachstellen BSI CERT-Bund (WID) · Jan 9, 2025