oss-security - Xen Security Advisory 242 (CVE-2017-15593)

Follow @Openwall on Twitter for new release announcements and other news
[<prev] [next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]
Message-Id: <E1e4n9I-0001M6-06@xenbits.xenproject.org>
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2017 12:08:35 +0000
From: Xen.org security team <security@....org>
To: xen-announce@...ts.xen.org, xen-devel@...ts.xen.org,
 xen-users@...ts.xen.org, oss-security@...ts.openwall.com
CC: Xen.org security team <security-team-members@....org>
Subject: Xen Security Advisory 242 (CVE-2017-15593) - page type reference
 leak on x86

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA256

            Xen Security Advisory CVE-2017-15593 / XSA-242
                              version 3

                    page type reference leak on x86

UPDATES IN VERSION 3
====================

CVE assigned.

ISSUE DESCRIPTION
=================

The page type system of Xen requires cleanup when the last reference
for a given page is being dropped.  In order to exclude simultaneous
updates to a given page by multiple parties, pages which are updated
are locked beforehand.  This locking includes temporarily increasing
the type reference count by one.  When the page is later unlocked, the
context precludes cleanup, so the reference that is then dropped must
not be the last one.  This was not properly enforced.

IMPACT
======

A malicious or buggy PV guest may cause a memory leak upon shutdown
of the guest, ultimately perhaps resulting in Denial of Service (DoS)
affecting the entire host.

VULNERABLE SYSTEMS
==================

All Xen versions from 3.4 onwards are vulnerable.  Xen versions 3.3 and
earlier are not vulnerable.

Only x86 systems are affected.  ARM systems are not affected.

Only x86 PV guests can leverage the vulnerability.  x86 HVM guests
cannot leverage the vulnerability.

MITIGATION
==========

Running only HVM guests will avoid this vulnerability.

For PV guests, the vulnerability can be avoided if the guest kernel is
controlled by the host rather than guest administrator, provided that
further steps are taken to prevent the guest administrator from loading
code into the kernel (e.g. by disabling loadable modules etc) or from
using other mechanisms which allow them to run code at kernel privilege.

CREDITS
=======

This issue was discovered by Jan Beulich of SUSE.

RESOLUTION
==========

Applying the appropriate attached patch resolves this issue.

xsa242.patch           xen-unstable
xsa242-4.9.patch       Xen 4.9.x, Xen 4.8.x, Xen 4.7.x, Xen 4.6.x, Xen 4.5.x

$ sha256sum xsa242*
168db3aef00806025afa255dee35cd0c042706a27a0256744e4d63f3ee86a2e8  xsa242.meta
16848f71311c2fd6a38afd7602e59211c89a3daf29b874097dba0b1e31ba6eec  xsa242.patch
5e66b6b1d1cd400905d3abd3478144539c3afa24f5a744a11809d9c5eb517b98  xsa242-4.9.patch
$

DEPLOYMENT DURING EMBARGO
=========================

Deployment of the patches and/or mitigations described above (or
others which are substantially similar) is permitted during the
embargo, even on public-facing systems with untrusted guest users and
administrators.

But: Distribution of updated software is prohibited (except to other
members of the predisclosure list).

Predisclosure list members who wish to deploy significantly different
patches and/or mitigations, please contact the Xen Project Security
Team.

(Note: this during-embargo deployment notice is retained in
post-embargo publicly released Xen Project advisories, even though it
is then no longer applicable.  This is to enable the community to have
oversight of the Xen Project Security Team's decisionmaking.)

For more information about permissible uses of embargoed information,
consult the Xen Project community's agreed Security Policy:
  http://www.xenproject.org/security-policy.html
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1

iQEcBAEBCAAGBQJZ50QmAAoJEIP+FMlX6CvZ8KMIALNhUmBoSrrx6V16Z8rPKRTs
uBJ9b5KcUs6aiOvTD8HnGpukF5g4W+O4MzGY0WkIGjUIXgYYj4Fjnib+40x99Bp0
W6m7EMfkU3N9hg4BPAy33MHEwK/kC9TNxro3IxYXCzSZzZn6FG64x2j1gULZvz66
+mAIaiSF0cvrn/uB1aBoAW6z+kCtqq7+XzzeC61hHmEYseYa+5JY20xB0zJ9hQe2
KER5QTzySFsbLv/3uQ2KamQK318YBzVuFry04/ZFOXJFlz9UdP74xcRyCXuaWQCV
EGehp54ri3qqPv5Cc2tAKATbllIrHWizhF9dtM5vnXkvFKjh3jq8cszmuRga9zI=
=Y0V/
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Download attachment "xsa242.meta" of type "application/octet-stream" (2287 bytes)

Download attachment "xsa242.patch" of type "application/octet-stream" (1715 bytes)

Download attachment "xsa242-4.9.patch" of type "application/octet-stream" (1459 bytes)
Please check out the Open Source Software Security Wiki, which is counterpart to this mailing list.
Confused about mailing lists and their use? Read about mailing lists on Wikipedia and check out these guidelines on proper formatting of your messages.