#VU44803 Permissions, Privileges, and Access Controls in Xen - CVE-2011-1898

Vulnerability identifier: #VU44803

Vulnerability risk: Medium

CVSSv4.0: 5.9 [CVSS:4.0/AV:A/AC:L/AT:N/PR:H/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green]

CVE-ID: CVE-2011-1898

CWE-ID: CWE-264

Exploitation vector: Local network

Exploit availability: No

Vulnerable software:
Xen
Server applications / Virtualization software

Vendor: Xen Project

Description

The vulnerability allows a remote #AU# to execute arbitrary code.

Xen 4.1 before 4.1.1 and 4.0 before 4.0.2, when using PCI passthrough on Intel VT-d chipsets that do not have interrupt remapping, allows guest OS users to gain host OS privileges by "using DMA to generate MSI interrupts by writing to the interrupt injection registers."

Mitigation
Install update from vendor's website.

Vulnerable software versions

Xen: 4.0.0 - 4.1.0

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External links
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2011-June/062112.html
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2011-June/062139.html
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-08/msg00017.html
https://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-08/msg00018.html
https://theinvisiblethings.blogspot.com/2011/05/following-white-rabbit-software-attacks.html
https://www.invisiblethingslab.com/resources/2011/Software%20Attacks%20on%20Intel%20VT-d.pdf
https://xen.1045712.n5.nabble.com/Xen-security-advisory-CVE-2011-1898-VT-d-PCI-passthrough-MSI-td4390298.html
https://xen.org/download/index_4.0.2.html

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Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

Yes. This vulnerability can be exploited by a remote authenticated privileged user via the local network (LAN).

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

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