CVE-2013-4553
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 · uneditedThe XEN_DOMCTL_getmemlist hypercall in Xen 3.4.x through 4.3.x (possibly 4.3.1) does not always obtain the page_alloc_lock and mm_rwlock in the same order, which allows local guest administrators to cause a denial of service (host deadlock).
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 confidenceThe XEN_DOMCTL_getmemlist hypercall in Xen 3.4.x through 4.3.x has a lock ordering vulnerability where page_alloc_lock and mm_rwlock are sometimes acquired in different orders. This creates a potential deadlock condition when concurrent calls from local guest administrators trigger the hypercall, causing host denial of service.
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= 3.4.0= 3.4.1= 3.4.2= 3.4.3= 3.4.4= 4.0.0= 4.0.1= 4.0.2= 4.0.3= 4.0.4= 4.1.0= 4.1.1CVSS 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
- Adjacent
- Complexity
- M
- Authentication
- Single
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Complete
AV:A/AC:M/Au:S/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify installed Xen versionRun 'xm version' or 'xl version' or check /usr/lib/xen/ for version files, or look at Xen bootloader entryAffected if The version is 3.4.0 through 4.1.1 inclusive (listed versions: 3.4.0-3.4.4, 4.0.0-4.0.4, 4.1.0-4.1.1)
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Confirm hypercall interface availabilityCheck dom0 configuration or hypervisor boot parameters for 'hypercall' or 'hvm' settings that allow guest-to-hypervisor communicationAffected if Guest VMs (including untrusted or semi-trusted) have the ability to make hypercalls to XEN_DOMCTL_getmemlist
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Verify guest administrator access to vulnerable hypercallReview VM configuration files for permissions allowing PV guests to execute domctl operations, or check for domid 0 interactions from guest contextsAffected if Local guest administrators can trigger the XEN_DOMCTL_getmemlist hypercall concurrently
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Check host for deadlock symptomsMonitor host responsiveness; look for hung domains, unresponsive xl/xm commands, or lockup in hypervisor logs (/var/log/xen/ or serial console logs)Affected if Host exhibits unexplained hangs or denial of service while multiple guest administrators invoke getmemlist concurrently
You are affected if your Xen version is between 3.4.0 and 4.1.1 and untrusted guest administrators can access the XEN_DOMCTL_getmemlist hypercall, especially under concurrent load conditions that may trigger the lock ordering deadlock.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataApply the vendor patch to fix the lock ordering in XEN_DOMCTL_getmemlist, or upgrade to a patched Xen version. As a compensating control, monitor for host resource exhaustion and consider isolating untrusted guest VMs.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA6.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2013-4553 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2013-4553 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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