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xen — security advisory

Type: advisorySources: OSVAdvisory ID: DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. There is a race condition when migrating timers between x86 HVM vCPUs. When migrating timers of x86 HVM guests between its vCPUs, the locking model used allows for a second vCPU of the same guest (also operating on the timers) to release a lock that it didn't acquire. The most likely effect of the issue is a hang or crash of the hypervisor, i.e., a Denial of Service (DoS). All versions of Xen are affected. Only x86 systems are vulnerable. Arm systems are not vulnerable. Only x86 HVM guests can leverage the vulnerability. x86 PV and PVH cannot leverage the vulnerability. Only guests with more than one vCPU can exploit the vulnerability.

Products
xen
Affected versions
Not specified
Fixed versions
4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1
CVEs
CVE-2020-25604
Confirmed fixed CVEs
Not specified
Updated in this feed
1 Nov 2026, 13:42 UTC · Revision 1

Source evidence

DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604

core-osv · Original source

Published 23 Sept 2020, 22:15 UTC

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. There is a race condition when migrating timers between x86 HVM vCPUs. When migrating timers of x86 HVM guests between its vCPUs, the locking model used allows for a second vCPU of the same guest (also operating on the timers) to release a lock that it didn't acquire. The most likely effect of the issue is a hang or crash of the hypervisor, i.e., a Denial of Service (DoS). All versions of Xen are affected. Only x86 systems are vulnerable. Arm systems are not vulnerable. Only x86 HVM guests can leverage the vulnerability. x86 PV and PVH cannot leverage the vulnerability. Only guests with more than one vCPU can exploit the vulnerability.

osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604

xen

Fixed versions: 4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1

xen

Fixed versions: 4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1

xen

Fixed versions: 4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1

Complete source record
{
  "id": "2123dc0aacd45de04102be3c1e791e667c836c83cc28de773d663c7e46d2fca3",
  "url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604",
  "method": "structured",
  "payload": {
    "kind": "advisory",
    "title": "DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604",
    "summary": "An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. There is a race condition when migrating timers between x86 HVM vCPUs. When migrating timers of x86 HVM guests between its vCPUs, the locking model used allows for a second vCPU of the same guest (also operating on the timers) to release a lock that it didn't acquire. The most likely effect of the issue is a hang or crash of the hypervisor, i.e., a Denial of Service (DoS). All versions of Xen are affected. Only x86 systems are vulnerable. Arm systems are not vulnerable. Only x86 HVM guests can leverage the vulnerability. x86 PV and PVH cannot leverage the vulnerability. Only guests with more than one vCPU can exploit the vulnerability.",
    "evidence": "osv:DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604",
    "products": [
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "xen",
          "evidence": "/affected/0/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/0/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "xen",
          "evidence": "/affected/1/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/1/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      },
      {
        "name": {
          "value": "xen",
          "evidence": "/affected/2/package/name"
        },
        "prerequisites": [],
        "fixed_versions": [
          {
            "value": "4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1",
            "evidence": "/affected/2/ranges"
          }
        ],
        "affected_versions": []
      }
    ],
    "severity": "medium",
    "structured": {
      "id": "DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604",
      "aliases": [
        "DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604"
      ],
      "metrics": [
        {
          "type": "CVSS_V3",
          "score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
        }
      ],
      "affected": [
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "package": {
            "name": "xen",
            "purl": "pkg:deb/debian/xen?arch=source&distro=bookworm",
            "ecosystem": "Debian:12"
          },
          "database_specific": {
            "source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/debian-osv/debian-cve-osv/DEBIAN-CVE-2020-25604.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {
            "urgency": "not yet assigned"
          }
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "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-2020-25604.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {
            "urgency": "not yet assigned"
          }
        },
        {
          "ranges": [
            {
              "type": "ECOSYSTEM",
              "events": [
                {
                  "introduced": "0"
                },
                {
                  "fixed": "4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1"
                }
              ]
            }
          ],
          "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-2020-25604.json"
          },
          "ecosystem_specific": {
            "urgency": "not yet assigned"
          }
        }
      ],
      "modified": "2026-10-26T12:02:40.280096626Z",
      "provider": "osv",
      "upstream": [
        "CVE-2020-25604"
      ],
      "references": [
        "https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-25604"
      ]
    },
    "related_cves": [
      {
        "value": "CVE-2020-25604",
        "evidence": "/upstream"
      }
    ],
    "security_relevant": true,
    "severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
  },
  "source_id": "core-osv",
  "document_id": 452707,
  "published_at": "2020-09-23T22:15:13.93+00:00"
}