#VU32258 NULL pointer dereference in Xen - CVE-2016-5242


| Updated: 2020-07-28

Vulnerability identifier: #VU32258

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 3.3 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:H/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2016-5242

CWE-ID: CWE-476

Exploitation vector: Local

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Xen
Server applications / Virtualization software

Vendor: Xen Project

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference error in arch/arm/p2m.c in Xen 4.4.x through 4.6.x allows local guest OS users with access to the driver domain to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and host OS crash) by creating concurrent domains and holding references to them, related to VMID exhaustion. <a href="http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476. A remote attacker can perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.

Mitigation
Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address this vulnerability.

Vulnerable software versions

Xen: 4.4.0 - 4.4.4


External links
https://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3633
https://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91015
https://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036035
https://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-181.html


Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability.


Latest bulletins with this vulnerability