CVE-2017-10912
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 · uneditedXen through 4.8.x mishandles page transfer, which allows guest OS users to obtain privileged host OS access, aka XSA-217.
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 confidenceA critical vulnerability in Xen hypervisor's page transfer mechanism (XSA-217) allows a malicious guest VM to escape its isolation and gain privileged access to the host OS. The flaw exists in versions through 4.8.x and enables a complete virtualization breakout.
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<= 4.8.1CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
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 the installed Xen hypervisor versionRun `xl version` or `xm version` on the host system, or check the package manager output (e.g., `dpkg -l | grep xen` on Debian-based systems, `rpm -q xen` on Red Hat-based systems)Affected if The displayed version is 4.8.1 or any earlier version (e.g., 4.7.x, 4.6.x, 4.5.x, etc.)
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Confirm the hypervisor is running the affected code pathVerify the system is running as a Xen hypervisor host (not as a guest VM) by checking `xl list` shows Domain-0, or by running `cat /proc/xen/capabilities` which should exist only on Xen hostsAffected if The system is a Xen hypervisor host and the version from step 1 is <= 4.8.1
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Check for available security patchesQuery your Linux distribution's package manager for installed Xen security updates (e.g., `yum list updates | grep xen` or `apt-cache policy xen-hypervisor-*`)Affected if No XSA-217 security patches are installed and the base Xen version remains <= 4.8.1
A system is affected if it runs as a Xen hypervisor host with Xen version 4.8.1 or any earlier version, without XSA-217 security patches applied.
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.
dbcve · scopedApply Xen security patches for XSA-217; upgrade to Xen 4.9+ or later stable versions. Schedule maintenance windows to patch all affected hypervisors and test VM functionality post-patch.
Xen 4.8.2 or later (or the latest stable 4.9.x/4.10.x/4.11.x release for long-term support)
- 1. Schedule a maintenance window for the Xen host system
- 2. Back up all virtual machine images and critical configuration files
- 3. Stop all running virtual machines on the Xen host
- 4. Upgrade Xen from version 4.8.x or earlier to version 4.8.2 or later using your distribution's package manager
- 5. Verify the Xen version after upgrade: `xl version` or `xm version`
- 6. Review Xen release notes for any post-upgrade configuration requirements
- 7. Restart the Xen host or restart the hypervisor service
- 8. Restart all virtual machines and verify they boot correctly
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation16.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-10912 — 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-2017-10912 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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