-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256 Xen Security Advisory CVE-2014-8866 / XSA-111 version 4 Excessive checking in compatibility mode hypercall argument translation UPDATES IN VERSION 4 ==================== Fix patch name. ISSUE DESCRIPTION ================= The hypercall argument translation needed for 32-bit guests running on 64-bit hypervisors performs checks on the final register state. These checks cover all registers potentially holding hypercall arguments, not just the ones actually doing so for the hypercall being processed, since the code was originally intended for use only by PV guests. While this is not a problem for PV guests (as they can't enter 64-bit mode and hence can't alter the high halves of any of the registers), the subsequent reuse of the same functionality for HVM guests exposed those checks to values (specifically, unexpected values for the high halves of registers not holding hypercall arguments) controlled by guest software. IMPACT ====== A buggy or malicious HVM guest can crash the host. VULNERABLE SYSTEMS ================== Xen 3.3 and onward are vulnerable. Only x86 systems are vulnerable. ARM systems are not vulnerable. MITIGATION ========== Running only PV guests will avoid this issue. There is no mitigation available for HVM guests on any version of Xen so far released by xenproject.org. CREDITS ======= This issue was discovered by Jan Beulich of SUSE. RESOLUTION ========== Applying the appropriate attached patch resolves this issue. xsa111.patch xen-unstable, Xen 4.4.x xsa111-4.3.patch Xen 4.3.x xsa111-4.2.patch Xen 4.2.x $ sha256sum xsa111*.patch f6e1bf166ebed6235802e4e42853430d2f5b456c1837908a4f7ed6d4d150e4b4 xsa111-4.2.patch e9b03a4443a40142cc5c21848dc9589770620dde8924344c4a00028c4dace9f2 xsa111-4.3.patch 3c418f065cd452c225af34c3cccf9bdbc37efb6c6a5fc5940fd83ad8620510d3 xsa111.patch $ -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- iQFABAEBCAAqFiEEI+MiLBRfRHX6gGCng/4UyVfoK9kFAmV8b+oMHHBncEB4ZW4u b3JnAAoJEIP+FMlX6CvZ2rEIAJQrF8DPr2vEINKugaEhBjORwqzHUg2aGsSs814i LSJMeTlMiJodaMUYcqtTOeB42evRZ0YLKhf8nhcw5k6kEqGiwcTIA3Kvhc2m3aLJ Yj/buy+TkLTb/h3q83V1IodrR96TRoiCjbGGiL/HF32BkcuPqfY4ZzBL4DRn9aOW Is3ebRqCBhHxZTXtFW2YvZiC42C0tRIV19BCnSJwvKL9II9hS7JEhSKwRYIrNYde 0KtoxI6h4QorM9s2tsC5v+ZplULb0ZREyLanto26qDNpFBOyvxyfkbUy4slgNCvQ 586WUb/vIq0TWDlDZEwslZMzbdTHIzS/sqgfaQCLc10b4xE= =XwMC -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----