CVE-2020-29486
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored...
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- High
- User interaction
- None
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
6.0
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
CVE-2020-29486- CVSS 3.1
- 6.0 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 4.9 Medium
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-770
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
CVE-2020-29486- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2020-21854 No score
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
EUVD-2020-21854- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-423g-qv8g-mgcc No score
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored...
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
GHSA-423g-qv8g-mgcc- Weakness
- CWE-770
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVALPINE-CVE-2020-29486
6.0
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
ALPINE-CVE-2020-29486- CVSS 3.1
- 6.0 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
6.0
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
CVE-2020-29486- CVSS 3.1
- 6.0 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2020-29486
6.0
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2020-29486- CVSS 3.1
- 6.0 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2020-29486
6.0
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Nodes in xenstore have an ownership. In oxenstored, a owner could give a node away. However, node ownership has quota implications. Any guest can run another guest out of quota, or create an unbounded number of nodes owned by dom0, thus running xenstored out of memory A malicious guest administrator can cause a denial of service against a specific guest or against the whole host. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2020-29486- CVSS 3.1
- 6.0 Medium
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
xenAlpine:v3.11 |
before 4.13.2-r3 | 4.13.2-r3 |
xenAlpine:v3.12 |
before 4.13.2-r3 | 4.13.2-r3 |
xenAlpine:v3.13 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.14 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.15 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.16 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.17 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.18 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.19 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.20 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
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| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
xenAlpine:v3.21 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.22 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.23 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenAlpine:v3.24 |
before 4.14.1-r0 | 4.14.1-r0 |
xenDebian:12 |
before 4.14.0+88-g1d1d1f5391-1 | 4.14.0+88-g1d1d1f5391-1 |
xenDebian:13 |
before 4.14.0+88-g1d1d1f5391-1 | 4.14.0+88-g1d1d1f5391-1 |
xenDebian:14 |
before 4.14.0+88-g1d1d1f5391-1 | 4.14.0+88-g1d1d1f5391-1 |
xenDebian:10 From an advisory covering 11 CVEs |
before 4.11.4+57-g41a822c392-2, plus listed versions 4.11.1+92-g6c33308a8d-24.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-14.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1~deb10u14.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-14.11.4+24-gddaaccbbab-1~deb10u14.11.4+37-g3263f257ca-14.11.4+57-g41a822c392-14.11.4-1 |
4.11.4+57-g41a822c392-2 |
xenUbuntu:16.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 4.5.1-0ubuntu14.5.1-0ubuntu24.6.0-1ubuntu14.6.0-1ubuntu24.6.0-1ubuntu4 Show 7 moreShow less4.6.0-1ubuntu4.14.6.0-1ubuntu4.24.6.0-1ubuntu4.34.6.5-0ubuntu14.6.5-0ubuntu1.14.6.5-0ubuntu1.24.6.5-0ubuntu1.4 |
None known |
xenUbuntu:18.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 4.9.0-0ubuntu34.9.0-0ubuntu44.9.2-0ubuntu1 |
None known |
xenUbuntu:20.04:LTS |
All versions, plus listed versions 4.9.2-0ubuntu24.9.2-0ubuntu64.9.2-0ubuntu74.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1ubuntu14.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1ubuntu24.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1ubuntu2.24.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1ubuntu2.3 |
None known |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2020-29486 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.0) in Xen, published December 15, 2020. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.41%, the 35th percentile. Fixed in xen 4.13.2-r3.
References
xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-352.html
debian.org/security/2020/dsa-4812
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/OBLV6L6Q24PPQ2CRFXDX4Q76KU776GKI
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/2C6M6S3CIMEBACH6O7V4H2VDANMO6TVA
security.gentoo.org/glsa/202107-30
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-29486
Show 8 moreShow less
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/2C6M6S3CIMEBACH6O7V4H2VDANMO6TVA
lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/[email protected]/message/OBLV6L6Q24PPQ2CRFXDX4Q76KU776GKI
github.com/advisories/GHSA-423g-qv8g-mgcc
security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-29486
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-29486
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-29486
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-352.html
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-29486