CVE-2019-19579
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing attackers to gain host OS privileges via DMA in a situation where an untrusted…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- mitre
Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing attackers to gain host OS privileges via DMA in a situation where an untrusted domain has access to a physical device (and assignable-add is not used), because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2019-18424. XSA-302 relies on the use of libxl's "assignable-add" feature to prepare devices to be assigned to untrusted guests. Unfortunately, this is not considered a strictly required step for device assignment. The PCI passthrough documentation on the wiki describes alternate ways of preparing devices for assignment, and libvirt uses its own ways as well. Hosts where these "alternate" methods are used will still leave the system in a vulnerable state after the device comes back from a guest. An untrusted domain with access to a physical device can DMA into host memory, leading to privilege escalation. Only systems where guests are given direct access to physical devices capable of DMA (PCI pass-through) are vulnerable. Systems which do not use PCI pass-through are not vulnerable.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium6.8 | CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.45% · top 61% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.8.
Weakness
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (8)
- http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-306.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-306.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/11/26/2 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [oss-security] 20191205 Xen Security Advisory 306 v3 (CVE-2019-19579) - Device quarantine for alternate pci assignment methods (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- FEDORA-2019-3d7105bd2a (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FEDORAx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2020:0011 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- DSA-4602 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- 20200114 [SECURITY] [DSA 4602-1] xen security update (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2019-19579)Record last updated .