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CVE-2026-31788

xen/privcmd: restrict usage in unprivileged domU

Published: 3/25/2026 Last updated: 4/18/2026 Reserved: 3/9/2026

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: xen/privcmd: restrict usage in unprivileged domU The Xen privcmd driver allows to issue arbitrary hypercalls from user space processes. This is normally no problem, as access is usually limited to root and the hypervisor will deny any hypercalls affecting other domains. In case the guest is booted using secure boot, however, the privcmd driver would be enabling a root user process to modify e.g. kernel memory contents, thus breaking the secure boot feature. The only known case where an unprivileged domU is really needing to use the privcmd driver is the case when it is acting as the device model for another guest. In this case all hypercalls issued via the privcmd driver will target that other guest. Fortunately the privcmd driver can already be locked down to allow only hypercalls targeting a specific domain, but this mode can be activated from user land only today. The target domain can be obtained from Xenstore, so when not running in dom0 restrict the privcmd driver to that target domain from the beginning, resolving the potential problem of breaking secure boot. This is XSA-482 --- V2: - defer reading from Xenstore if Xenstore isn't ready yet (Jan Beulich) - wait in open() if target domain isn't known yet - issue message in case no target domain found (Jan Beulich)

CNA assigner: Linux (416baaa9-dc9f-4396-8d5f-8c081fb06d67) Requested by: n/a

Metrics

Version Score Severity Vector String
3.1 8.2 High CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Opam packages affected (29)

albatross cdrom conf-bpftool conf-libbpf conf-linux-libc-dev core core_unix hvsock mirage-block-unix mm ocaml-probes ortools_solvers orun rawlink rawlink-eio rawlink-lwt restricted shell solo5 solo5-bindings-hvt solo5-bindings-spt solo5-cross-aarch64 solo5-kernel-ukvm tracy-client tuntap uring vhd-format vhd-format-lwt xapi-stdext-unix

Products affected (4)

Product Vendor Version
Linux Linux n/a
Linux Linux n/a
Linux Linux n/a
Linux Linux n/a

References (28)