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XenApplication · Citrix

CVE-2008-5716

HIGH · 7.2 CVSS v2.0 Published 2008-12-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
77/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
xend in Xen 3.3.0 does not properly restrict a guest VM's write access within the /local/domain xenstore directory tree, which allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service and possibly have unspecified other impact by writing to (1) console/tty, (2) console/limit, or (3) image/device-model-pid. NOTE: this issue exists because of erroneous set_permissions calls in the fix for CVE-2008-4405.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

xend in Xen 3.3.0 improperly restricts guest VM write access within the /local/domain xenstore directory tree, allowing guests to write to sensitive paths (console/tty, console/limit, image/device-model-pid). This can cause denial of service and other impact. The flaw exists because of erroneous set_permissions calls from the CVE-2008-4405 fix.

MitigationApply the vendor patch to correct the xenstore permission configuration in xend, restricting guest write access to the vulnerable paths.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
XenApplication
Affected:= 3.3.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify Xen version is 3.3.0
    Run `xm version` or `xm info` and check the version field in the output. Alternatively, check the package version if installed via package manager.
    Affected if The installed Xen version equals 3.3.0 exactly
  2. Confirm xend daemon is running
    Run `ps aux | grep xend` or check if the xend process is active. The vulnerability only applies when xend is managing the domain.
    Affected if xend is running and managing virtual machines
  3. Identify xenstore vulnerable paths permissions
    Use `xenstore-ls` to examine the permissions on /local/domain/<domid>/console/tty, /local/domain/<domid>/console/limit, and /local/domain/<domid>/image/device-model-pid for a running guest domain.
    Affected if Guest domains have write permission (w) on these paths in xenstore
  4. Verify guest write access to console paths
    From within a guest domain, attempt to write to the xenstore paths using `xenstore-write` for /local/domain/0/console/tty or /local/domain/0/console/limit if permissions allow.
    Affected if A guest can successfully write to console/tty, console/limit, or image/device-model-pid paths in xenstore

You are affected if running Xen 3.3.0 with xend active and guests have write permissions to the console/tty, console/limit, or image/device-model-pid xenstore paths.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Apply the vendor patch to correct the xenstore permission configuration in xend, restricting guest write access to the vulnerable paths.

Fix this in Xen Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2008-5716 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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