github - ghsa-mxh6-2xpg-m77w

GHSA-MXH6-2XPG-M77W

Vulnerability from github – Published: 2024-03-20 15:32 – Updated: 2025-11-04 21:31

Details

In particular certain memory accesses need intercepting by Xen. In various cases the necessary emulation involves kind of replaying of the instruction. Such replaying typically involves filling and then invoking of a stub. Such a replayed instruction may raise an exceptions, which is expected and dealt with accordingly.

Unfortunately the interaction of both of the above wasn't right: Recovery involves removal of a call frame from the (traditional) stack. The counterpart of this operation for the shadow stack was missing.

Severity ?

6.5 (Medium)


                  
                    CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

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{
  "affected": [],
  "aliases": [
    "CVE-2023-46841"
  ],
  "database_specific": {
    "cwe_ids": [],
    "github_reviewed": false,
    "github_reviewed_at": null,
    "nvd_published_at": "2024-03-20T11:15:08Z",
    "severity": "MODERATE"
  },
  "details": "Recent x86 CPUs offer functionality named Control-flow Enforcement\nTechnology (CET).  A sub-feature of this are Shadow Stacks (CET-SS).\nCET-SS is a hardware feature designed to protect against Return Oriented\nProgramming attacks. When enabled, traditional stacks holding both data\nand return addresses are accompanied by so called \"shadow stacks\",\nholding little more than return addresses.  Shadow stacks aren\u0027t\nwritable by normal instructions, and upon function returns their\ncontents are used to check for possible manipulation of a return address\ncoming from the traditional stack.\n\nIn particular certain memory accesses need intercepting by Xen.  In\nvarious cases the necessary emulation involves kind of replaying of\nthe instruction.  Such replaying typically involves filling and then\ninvoking of a stub.  Such a replayed instruction may raise an\nexceptions, which is expected and dealt with accordingly.\n\nUnfortunately the interaction of both of the above wasn\u0027t right:\nRecovery involves removal of a call frame from the (traditional) stack.\nThe counterpart of this operation for the shadow stack was missing.",
  "id": "GHSA-mxh6-2xpg-m77w",
  "modified": "2025-11-04T21:31:20Z",
  "published": "2024-03-20T15:32:57Z",
  "references": [
    {
      "type": "ADVISORY",
      "url": "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2023-46841"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HES2IJXZY3H7HBPP4NVSVYYNGW254DMI"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZON4TLXG7TG4A2XZG563JMVTGQW4SF3A"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-451.html"
    },
    {
      "type": "WEB",
      "url": "http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-451.html"
    }
  ],
  "schema_version": "1.4.0",
  "severity": [
    {
      "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H",
      "type": "CVSS_V3"
    }
  ]
}

CVE-2023-46841 (GCVE-0-2023-46841)

Vulnerability from cvelistv5 – Published: 2024-03-20 10:40 – Updated: 2025-11-04 18:18

Summary

Recent x86 CPUs offer functionality named Control-flow Enforcement Technology (CET). A sub-feature of this are Shadow Stacks (CET-SS). CET-SS is a hardware feature designed to protect against Return Oriented Programming attacks. When enabled, traditional stacks holding both data and return addresses are accompanied by so called "shadow stacks", holding little more than return addresses. Shadow stacks aren't writable by normal instructions, and upon function returns their contents are used to check for possible manipulation of a return address coming from the traditional stack. In particular certain memory accesses need intercepting by Xen. In various cases the necessary emulation involves kind of replaying of the instruction. Such replaying typically involves filling and then invoking of a stub. Such a replayed instruction may raise an exceptions, which is expected and dealt with accordingly. Unfortunately the interaction of both of the above wasn't right: Recovery involves removal of a call frame from the (traditional) stack. The counterpart of this operation for the shadow stack was missing.

Severity ?

6.5 (Medium)


                        
                          CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H

CWE

CWE-noinfo Not enough information

Assigner

XEN

References

URL

Tags

	https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-451.html
	https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/pac…

Impacted products

	Vendor	Product	Version
	Xen	Xen	Unknown: consult Xen advisory XSA-451

Credits

This issue was discovered by Jan Beulich of SUSE.

Show details on NVD website

JSON

To clipboard

{
  "containers": {
    "adp": [
      {
        "metrics": [
          {
            "cvssV3_1": {
              "attackComplexity": "LOW",
              "attackVector": "LOCAL",
              "availabilityImpact": "HIGH",
              "baseScore": 6.5,
              "baseSeverity": "MEDIUM",
              "confidentialityImpact": "NONE",
              "integrityImpact": "NONE",
              "privilegesRequired": "LOW",
              "scope": "CHANGED",
              "userInteraction": "NONE",
              "vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H",
              "version": "3.1"
            }
          },
          {
            "other": {
              "content": {
                "id": "CVE-2023-46841",
                "options": [
                  {
                    "Exploitation": "none"
                  },
                  {
                    "Automatable": "no"
                  },
                  {
                    "Technical Impact": "partial"
                  }
                ],
                "role": "CISA Coordinator",
                "timestamp": "2024-03-25T16:09:38.636466Z",
                "version": "2.0.3"
              },
              "type": "ssvc"
            }
          }
        ],
        "problemTypes": [
          {
            "descriptions": [
              {
                "description": "CWE-noinfo Not enough information",
                "lang": "en",
                "type": "CWE"
              }
            ]
          }
        ],
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2024-11-05T18:53:05.398Z",
          "orgId": "134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0",
          "shortName": "CISA-ADP"
        },
        "title": "CISA ADP Vulnrichment"
      },
      {
        "providerMetadata": {
          "dateUpdated": "2025-11-04T18:18:57.552Z",
          "orgId": "af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108",
          "shortName": "CVE"
        },
        "references": [
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-451.html"
          },
          {
            "tags": [
              "x_transferred"
            ],
            "url": "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZON4TLXG7TG4A2XZG563JMVTGQW4SF3A/"
          },
          {
            "url": "http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-451.html"
          },
          {
            "url": "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/HES2IJXZY3H7HBPP4NVSVYYNGW254DMI/"
          }
        ],
        "title": "CVE Program Container"
      }
    ],
    "cna": {
      "affected": [
        {
          "defaultStatus": "unknown",
          "product": "Xen",
          "vendor": "Xen",
          "versions": [
            {
              "status": "unknown",
              "version": "consult Xen advisory XSA-451"
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "configurations": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "Xen 4.14 and onwards are vulnerable.  Xen 4.13 and older are not\nvulnerable.\n\nOnly x86 systems with CET-SS enabled are vulnerable.  x86 systems with\nCET-SS unavailable or disabled are not vulnerable.  Arm systems are not\nvulnerable.  See\nhttps://xenbits.xen.org/docs/latest/faq.html#tell-if-cet-is-active\nfor how to determine whether CET-SS is active.\n\nOnly HVM or PVH guests can leverage the vulnerability.  PV guests cannot\nleverage the vulnerability."
        }
      ],
      "credits": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "type": "finder",
          "value": "This issue was discovered by Jan Beulich of SUSE."
        }
      ],
      "datePublic": "2024-02-27T10:38:00.000Z",
      "descriptions": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "Recent x86 CPUs offer functionality named Control-flow Enforcement\nTechnology (CET).  A sub-feature of this are Shadow Stacks (CET-SS).\nCET-SS is a hardware feature designed to protect against Return Oriented\nProgramming attacks. When enabled, traditional stacks holding both data\nand return addresses are accompanied by so called \"shadow stacks\",\nholding little more than return addresses.  Shadow stacks aren\u0027t\nwritable by normal instructions, and upon function returns their\ncontents are used to check for possible manipulation of a return address\ncoming from the traditional stack.\n\nIn particular certain memory accesses need intercepting by Xen.  In\nvarious cases the necessary emulation involves kind of replaying of\nthe instruction.  Such replaying typically involves filling and then\ninvoking of a stub.  Such a replayed instruction may raise an\nexceptions, which is expected and dealt with accordingly.\n\nUnfortunately the interaction of both of the above wasn\u0027t right:\nRecovery involves removal of a call frame from the (traditional) stack.\nThe counterpart of this operation for the shadow stack was missing."
        }
      ],
      "impacts": [
        {
          "descriptions": [
            {
              "lang": "en",
              "value": "An unprivileged guest can cause a hypervisor crash, causing a Denial of\nService (DoS) of the entire host."
            }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "providerMetadata": {
        "dateUpdated": "2024-03-23T03:06:14.246Z",
        "orgId": "23aa2041-22e1-471f-9209-9b7396fa234f",
        "shortName": "XEN"
      },
      "references": [
        {
          "url": "https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-451.html"
        },
        {
          "url": "https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce@lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ZON4TLXG7TG4A2XZG563JMVTGQW4SF3A/"
        }
      ],
      "title": "x86: shadow stack vs exceptions from emulation stubs",
      "workarounds": [
        {
          "lang": "en",
          "value": "While in principle it is possible to disable use of CET on capable\nsystems using the \"cet=no-shstk\" command line option, doing so disables\nan important security feature and may therefore not be advisable."
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  "cveMetadata": {
    "assignerOrgId": "23aa2041-22e1-471f-9209-9b7396fa234f",
    "assignerShortName": "XEN",
    "cveId": "CVE-2023-46841",
    "datePublished": "2024-03-20T10:40:36.597Z",
    "dateReserved": "2023-10-27T07:55:35.333Z",
    "dateUpdated": "2025-11-04T18:18:57.552Z",
    "state": "PUBLISHED"
  },
  "dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
  "dataVersion": "5.2"
}

Sightings

Author	Source	Type	Date

Nomenclature

Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or observed by the user.
Confirmed: The vulnerability has been validated from an analyst's perspective.
Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
Exploited: The vulnerability was observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Patched: The vulnerability was observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.
Not exploited: The vulnerability was not observed as exploited by the user who reported the sighting.
Not confirmed: The user expressed doubt about the validity of the vulnerability.
Not patched: The vulnerability was not observed as successfully patched by the user who reported the sighting.

Detection rules are retrieved from Rulezet.

Action not permitted

GHSA-MXH6-2XPG-M77W

CVE-2023-46841 (GCVE-0-2023-46841)

Tags

Sightings

Nomenclature