CVE-2018-15468
MEDIUMDescription
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.11.x. The DEBUGCTL MSR contains several debugging features, some of which virtualise cleanly, but some do not. In particular, Branch Trace Store is not virtualised by the processor, and software has to be careful to configure it suitably not to lock up the core. As a result, it must only be available to fully trusted guests. Unfortunately, in the case that vPMU is disabled, all value checking was skipped, allowing the guest to choose any MSR_DEBUGCTL setting it likes. A malicious or buggy guest administrator (on Intel x86 HVM or PVH) can lock up the entire host, causing a Denial of Service.
How to fix
Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.
CVSS v3 Vector
Exploitability
Impact
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Exploit Intelligence
Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 26% of all known CVEs.
References
Related Vulnerabilities
Other CWE-863 (Incorrect Authorization) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all
| CVE | Severity | CVSS | EPSS | Exploited | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2023-22518 | Critical | 9.8 | 100% | KEV + Ransom | Fix |
| CVE-2023-38035 | Critical | 9.8 | 100% | KEV + Ransom | - |
| CVE-2022-46169 | Critical | 9.8 | 100% | KEV | Fix |
| CVE-2025-29927 | Critical | 9.1 | 100% | - | Fix |
| CVE-2024-38856 | Critical | 9.8 | 99% | KEV | Fix |
| CVE-2020-36289 | Medium | 5.3 | 99% | - | Fix |
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Start freeThis product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2024-11-21.