CVE-2026-72380 (GCVE-0-2026-72380)
Vulnerability from cvelistv5
Published
2026-08-15 05:56
Modified
2026-08-17 05:43
Severity ?
VLAI Severity ?
EPSS score ?
Summary
In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:
xen/pvcalls: bound backend response req_id before indexing rsp[]
pvcalls_front_event_handler() takes req_id directly from the
backend-supplied ring response and uses it to index the fixed-size
bedata->rsp[] array for a memcpy() and a store, with no range check. A
malicious or buggy backend can set req_id past PVCALLS_NR_RSP_PER_RING
and drive an out-of-bounds write past the bedata allocation.
req_id was also declared int while the wire field rsp->req_id is u32, so
a range check on the signed value alone is insufficient: a backend
req_id of 0xffffffff becomes -1, passes a >= PVCALLS_NR_RSP_PER_RING
test and indexes bedata->rsp[-1]. Declare req_id as u32 so a single
bound covers both ends.
A backend that sends an out-of-range req_id has violated the wire
protocol, so rather than silently dropping the response, log once and
stop trusting the backend: set bedata->disabled. The event handler then
ignores further responses, and the request paths that wait for a
response return -EIO instead of blocking forever. This mirrors the
fatal-error handling xen-netback uses (xenvif_fatal_tx_err()).
The pvcalls frontend currently trusts its backend, so this is not a
classic-Xen security issue, but it matters for hardening PV frontends
against malicious backends (confidential and disaggregated deployments).
References
Impacted products
{
"containers": {
"cna": {
"affected": [
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"defaultStatus": "unaffected",
"product": "Linux",
"programFiles": [
"drivers/xen/pvcalls-front.c"
],
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"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
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"version": "2195046bfd69e487d9a76dc47840f15c8412840c",
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"drivers/xen/pvcalls-front.c"
],
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"vendor": "Linux",
"versions": [
{
"status": "affected",
"version": "4.15"
},
{
"lessThan": "4.15",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "0",
"versionType": "semver"
},
{
"lessThanOrEqual": "7.1.*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.1.5",
"versionType": "semver"
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{
"lessThanOrEqual": "*",
"status": "unaffected",
"version": "7.2",
"versionType": "original_commit_for_fix"
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"cpeApplicability": [
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"vulnerable": true
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"negate": false,
"operator": "OR"
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"descriptions": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:\n\nxen/pvcalls: bound backend response req_id before indexing rsp[]\n\npvcalls_front_event_handler() takes req_id directly from the\nbackend-supplied ring response and uses it to index the fixed-size\nbedata-\u003ersp[] array for a memcpy() and a store, with no range check. A\nmalicious or buggy backend can set req_id past PVCALLS_NR_RSP_PER_RING\nand drive an out-of-bounds write past the bedata allocation.\n\nreq_id was also declared int while the wire field rsp-\u003ereq_id is u32, so\na range check on the signed value alone is insufficient: a backend\nreq_id of 0xffffffff becomes -1, passes a \u003e= PVCALLS_NR_RSP_PER_RING\ntest and indexes bedata-\u003ersp[-1]. Declare req_id as u32 so a single\nbound covers both ends.\n\nA backend that sends an out-of-range req_id has violated the wire\nprotocol, so rather than silently dropping the response, log once and\nstop trusting the backend: set bedata-\u003edisabled. The event handler then\nignores further responses, and the request paths that wait for a\nresponse return -EIO instead of blocking forever. This mirrors the\nfatal-error handling xen-netback uses (xenvif_fatal_tx_err()).\n\nThe pvcalls frontend currently trusts its backend, so this is not a\nclassic-Xen security issue, but it matters for hardening PV frontends\nagainst malicious backends (confidential and disaggregated deployments)."
}
],
"metrics": [
{
"cvssV3_1": {
"baseScore": 8.8,
"baseSeverity": "HIGH",
"vectorString": "CVSS:3.1/AV:A/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H",
"version": "3.1"
},
"scenarios": [
{
"lang": "en",
"value": "AV:A - The bug is reached when a malicious Xen PVCalls backend writes crafted responses into the shared grant-table ring and notifies the guest frontend via an inter-domain event channel; this is an adjacent on-host backend-to-guest path, not remote IP delivery to the guest.\nAC:L - A compromised backend fully controls ring response contents and can set any req_id (including 0xffffffff for rsp[-1]) and re-notify the frontend IRQ at will; no races or attacker-uncontrollable heap layout are required to trigger the out-of-bounds write.\nPR:N - No credentials inside the vulnerable guest are needed; once the pvcalls frontend is xenbus-connected to a backend, that backend alone can inject the malformed response. Backend/domain control is the attack position, not privileges obtainable in the guest via user namespaces.\nUI:N - No victim user or application action is required after xenbus binds the pvcalls frontend to its backend; backend-driven ring writes and event-channel interrupts alone reach pvcalls_front_event_handler() without mounts, socket use, or other interactive steps.\nS:U - The out-of-bounds write corrupts kmalloc heap memory and kernel objects within the guest running the pvcalls frontend. This is backend-to-guest hardening, not a demonstrated guest-to-host or hypervisor escape across the VM security boundary.\nC:H - Backend-chosen req_id indexes bedata-\u003ersp[] out of bounds for a ~20-byte memcpy plus req_id store, corrupting adjacent kernel heap memory (including rsp[-1] via the signed req_id bug) and enabling plausible arbitrary kernel memory disclosure if shaped further.\nI:H - The heap out-of-bounds write can overwrite adjacent kmalloc objects or allocator metadata, providing a credible path to arbitrary guest-kernel memory modification and control-flow hijack rather than being limited to a bounded or non-security integrity effect.\nA:H - Corrupting kernel heap structures via the unbounded rsp[] indexing can immediately panic or oops the guest kernel; even unexploited attempts are likely to crash or disable the frontend, causing total loss of guest availability."
}
]
}
],
"providerMetadata": {
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:43:30.909Z",
"orgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"shortName": "Linux"
},
"references": [
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d1297a9e2fd6ce08678b370d41bc980ca798f809"
},
{
"url": "https://git.kernel.org/stable/c/d33846c8dcc06b83b7acdeac1e8bfbb5c0c26cb2"
}
],
"title": "xen/pvcalls: bound backend response req_id before indexing rsp[]",
"x_generator": {
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}
},
"cveMetadata": {
"assignerOrgId": "416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67",
"assignerShortName": "Linux",
"cveId": "CVE-2026-72380",
"datePublished": "2026-08-15T05:56:12.866Z",
"dateReserved": "2026-08-09T03:40:39.922Z",
"dateUpdated": "2026-08-17T05:43:30.909Z",
"state": "PUBLISHED"
},
"dataType": "CVE_RECORD",
"dataVersion": "5.2"
}
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Sightings
| Author | Source | Type | Date |
|---|
Nomenclature
- Seen: The vulnerability was mentioned, discussed, or seen somewhere by the user.
- Confirmed: The vulnerability is confirmed from an analyst perspective.
- Published Proof of Concept: A public proof of concept is available for this vulnerability.
- Exploited: This vulnerability was exploited and seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Patched: This vulnerability was successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not exploited: This vulnerability was not exploited or seen by the user reporting the sighting.
- Not confirmed: The user expresses doubt about the veracity of the vulnerability.
- Not patched: This vulnerability was not successfully patched by the user reporting the sighting.
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