MediumFix available

xen — security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVAdvisory ID: DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842

Unlike 32-bit PV guests, HVM guests may switch freely between 64-bit and other modes. This in particular means that they may set registers used to pass 32-bit-mode hypercall arguments to values outside of the range 32-bit code would be able to set them to. When processing of hypercalls takes a considerable amount of time, the hypervisor may choose to invoke a hypercall continuation. Doing so involves putting (perhaps updated) hypercall arguments in respective registers. For guests not running in 64-bit mode this further involves a certain amount of translation of the values. Unfortunately internal sanity checking of these translated values assumes high halves of registers to always be clear when invoking a hypercall. When this is found not to be the case, it triggers a consistency check in the hypervisor and causes a crash.

Products: xen
Affected versions: 4.17.1+2-gb773c48e36-1, 4.17.2+55-g0b56bed864-1, 4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1, 4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1~deb12u1, 4.17.2-1, 4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1, 4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1, 4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1~exp1, 4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1~exp2, 4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1~deb12u1, 4.17.3+36-g54dacb5c02-1
Fixed versions: 4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1, 4.19.1-1
CVEs: CVE-2023-46842
Confirmed fixed CVEs: Not specified
Updated in this feed: 1 Nov 2026, 15:59 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842

core-osv · Original source

Published 16 May 2024, 14:15 UTC

osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842

xen

Fixed versions: 4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1

xen

Fixed versions: 4.19.1-1

xen

Fixed versions: 4.19.1-1

Complete source record

{
  "id": "55aa549cf92dfd361b464e11e4f7c882a8f3759fc3a84d56871be07ec59e6799",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842",
    "summary": "Unlike 32-bit PV guests, HVM guests may switch freely between 64-bit and other modes. This in particular means that they may set registers used to pass 32-bit-mode hypercall arguments to values outside of the range 32-bit code would be able to set them to. When processing of hypercalls takes a considerable amount of time, the hypervisor may choose to invoke a hypercall continuation. Doing so involves putting (perhaps updated) hypercall arguments in respective registers. For guests not running in 64-bit mode this further involves a certain amount of translation of the values. Unfortunately internal sanity checking of these translated values assumes high halves of registers to always be clear when invoking a hypercall. When this is found not to be the case, it triggers a consistency check in the hypervisor and causes a crash.",
    "evidence": "osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842",
    "products": [
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "xen",
          "evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.17.1+2-gb773c48e36-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.2+55-g0b56bed864-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1~deb12u1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.2-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1~exp1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1~exp2",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1~deb12u1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          },
          {
            "value": "4.17.3+36-g54dacb5c02-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/versions"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "xen",
          "evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.19.1-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "xen",
          "evidence": "/affected/2/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.19.1-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/2/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      }
    ],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842",
      "aliases": [
        "DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4.17.5+23-ga4e5191dc0-1"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "xen",
            "purl": "pkg:deb/debian/xen?arch=source&distro=bookworm",
            "ecosystem": "Debian:12"
          },
          "versions": [
            "4.17.1+2-gb773c48e36-1",
            "4.17.2+55-g0b56bed864-1",
            "4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1",
            "4.17.2+76-ge1f9cb16e2-1~deb12u1",
            "4.17.2-1",
            "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1",
            "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1",
            "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1~exp1",
            "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1.1~exp2",
            "4.17.3+10-g091466ba55-1~deb12u1",
            "4.17.3+36-g54dacb5c02-1"
          ],
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {
            "urgency": "not yet assigned"
          }
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4.19.1-1"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "xen",
            "purl": "pkg:deb/debian/xen?arch=source&distro=trixie",
            "ecosystem": "Debian:13"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {
            "urgency": "not yet assigned"
          }
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4.19.1-1"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "xen",
            "purl": "pkg:deb/debian/xen?arch=source&distro=forky",
            "ecosystem": "Debian:14"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2023-46842.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {
            "urgency": "not yet assigned"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-26T18:02:34.599478752Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "upstream": [
        "CVE-2023-46842"
      ],
      "references": [
        "https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2023-46842"
      ]
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2023-46842",
        "evidence": "/upstream"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 456281,
  "published_at": "2024-05-16T14:15:08.317+00:00"
}