CVE-2015-8338
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1)...
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
NVD Score used
7.2
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
CVE-2015-8338- CVSS 2.0
- 7.2 High
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-254
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
CVE List No score
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
CVE-2015-8338- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2015-8222 No score
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
EUVD-2015-8222- Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-2h27-hv8q-h9cg No score
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1)...
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
GHSA-2h27-hv8q-h9cg- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV No score
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
CVE-2015-8338- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2015-8338 No score
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8338- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2016-0098 No score
Updated xen packages fix security vulnerabilities
This xen update is based on upstream 4.5.2 maintenance release, and fixes the following security issues:
The vgic_v2_to_sgi function in arch/arm/vgic-v2.c in Xen 4.5.x, when running on ARM hardware with general interrupt controller (GIC) version 2, allows local guest users to cause a denial of service (host crash) by writing an invalid value to the GICD.SGIR register (CVE-2015-0268).
The ARM GIC distributor virtualization in Xen 4.4.x and 4.5.x allows local guests to cause a denial of service by causing a large number messages to be logged (CVE-2015-1563).
The emulation routines for unspecified X86 devices in Xen 3.2.x through 4.5.x does not properly initialize data, which allow local HVM guest users to obtain sensitive information via vectors involving an unsupported access size (CVE-2015-2044).
The HYPERVISOR_xen_version hypercall in Xen 3.2.x through 4.5.x does not properly initialize data structures, which allows local guest users to obtain sensitive information via unspecified vectors (CVE-2015-2045).
Xen 3.3.x through 4.5.x and the Linux kernel through 3.19.1 do not properly restrict access to PCI command registers, which might allow local guest users to cause a denial of service (non-maskable interrupt and host crash) by disabling the (1) memory or (2) I/O decoding for a PCI Express device and then accessing the device, which triggers an Unsupported Request (UR) response (CVE-2015-2150).
The x86 emulator in Xen 3.2.x through 4.5.x does not properly ignore segment overrides for instructions with register operands, which allows local guest users to obtain sensitive information, cause a denial of service (memory corruption), or possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors (CVE-2015-2151).
Xen 4.5.x and earlier enables certain default backends when emulating a VGA device for an x86 HVM guest qemu even when the configuration disables them, which allows local guest users to obtain access to the VGA console by (1) setting the DISPLAY environment variable, when compiled with SDL support, or connecting to the VNC server on (2) ::1 or (3) 127.0.0.1, when not compiled with SDL support (CVE-2015-2152).
Xen 4.3.x, 4.4.x, and 4.5.x, when using toolstack disaggregation, allows remote domains with partial management control to cause a denial of service (host lock) via unspecified domctl operations (CVE-2015-2751).
The XEN_DOMCTL_memory_mapping hypercall in Xen 3.2.x through 4.5.x, when using a PCI passthrough device, is not preemptable, which allows local x86 HVM domain users to cause a denial of service (host CPU consumption) via a crafted request to the device model (qemu-dm) (CVE-2015-2752).
QEMU, as used in Xen 3.3.x through 4.5.x, does not properly restrict access to PCI command registers, which might allow local HVM guest users to cause a denial of service (non-maskable interrupt and host crash) by disabling the (1) memory or (2) I/O decoding for a PCI Express device and then accessing the device, which triggers an Unsupported Request (UR) response (CVE-2015-2756).
Heap-based buffer overflow in the PCNET controller in QEMU allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code by sending a packet with TXSTATUS_STARTPACKET set and then a crafted packet with TXSTATUS_DEVICEOWNS set (CVE-2015-3209).
Stack-based buffer overflow in the xl command line utility in Xen 4.1.x through 4.5.x allows local guest administrators to gain privileges via a long configuration argument (CVE-2015-3259).
Xen 4.2.x through 4.5.x does not initialize certain fields, which allows certain remote service domains to obtain sensitive information from memory via a (1) XEN_DOMCTL_gettscinfo or (2) XEN_SYSCTL_getdomaininfolist request (CVE-2015-3340).
The Floppy Disk Controller (FDC) in QEMU, as used in Xen 4.5.x and earlier and KVM, allows local guest users to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write and guest crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via the (1) FD_CMD_READ_ID, (2) FD_CMD_DRIVE_SPECIFICATION_COMMAND, or other…
- Record
MGASA-2016-0098- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2015-8338 No score
Xen 4.6.x and earlier does not properly enforce limits on page order inputs for the (1) XENMEM_increase_reservation, (2) XENMEM_populate_physmap, (3) XENMEM_exchange, and possibly other HYPERVISOR_memory_op suboperations, which allows ARM guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption, guest reboot, or watchdog timeout and host reboot) and possibly have unspecified other impact via unknown vectors.
- Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2015-8338- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
| Package | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|
xenDebian:12 |
before 4.8.0~rc3-1 | 4.8.0~rc3-1 |
xenDebian:13 |
before 4.8.0~rc3-1 | 4.8.0~rc3-1 |
xenDebian:14 |
before 4.8.0~rc3-1 | 4.8.0~rc3-1 |
xenDebian:8 |
before 4.4.1-9+deb8u6, plus listed versions 4.4.1-94.4.1-9+deb8u14.4.1-9+deb8u24.4.1-9+deb8u34.4.1-9+deb8u44.4.1-9+deb8u5 |
4.4.1-9+deb8u6 |
xenMageia:5 |
before 4.5.2-1.5.mga5 | 4.5.2-1.5.mga5 |
xenUbuntu:14.04:LTS |
before 4.4.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.4, plus listed versions 4.3.0-1ubuntu14.3.0-1ubuntu24.3.0-1ubuntu34.3.0-1ubuntu44.3.0-1ubuntu5 Show 14 moreShow less4.4.0-0ubuntu34.4.0-0ubuntu44.4.0-0ubuntu54.4.0-0ubuntu5.14.4.0-0ubuntu5.24.4.1-0ubuntu0.14.04.14.4.1-0ubuntu0.14.04.24.4.1-0ubuntu0.14.04.34.4.1-0ubuntu0.14.04.44.4.1-0ubuntu0.14.04.54.4.1-0ubuntu0.14.04.64.4.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.14.4.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.24.4.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.3 |
4.4.2-0ubuntu0.14.04.4 |
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 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-2015-8338 is a high vulnerability (CVSS 7.2) in Xen, published December 17, 2015. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.42%, the 36th percentile. Fixed in xen 4.8.0~rc3-1.
References
securityfocus.com/bid/78920
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-158.html
securitytracker.com/id/1034390
debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3633
nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8338
github.com/advisories/GHSA-2h27-hv8q-h9cg
Show 54 moreShow less
security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-8338
advisories.mageia.org/MGASA-2016-0098.html
bugs.mageia.org/show_bug.cgi?id=16956
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-117.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-118.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-119.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-120.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-121.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-122.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-123.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-124.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-125.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-126.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-127.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-128.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-129.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-130.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-131.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-132.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-133.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-134.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-135.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-136.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-137.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-138.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-139.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-140.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-141.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-142.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-145.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-146.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-147.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-148.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-149.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-150.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-151.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-152.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-153.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-154.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-155.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-156.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-159.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-162.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-163.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-164.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-165.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-166.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-167.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-168.html
xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-170.html
xenproject.org/downloads/xen-archives/xen-45-series/xen-451.html
xenproject.org/downloads/xen-archives/xen-45-series/xen-452.html
ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-8338
cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8338
Left out here: the rest of 1 source description. The JSON record has them.