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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2018-10472

MEDIUM · 5.6 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-04-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.10.1 or later.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.10.x allowing x86 HVM guest OS users (in certain configurations) to read arbitrary dom0 files via QMP live insertion of a CDROM, in conjunction with specifying the target file as the backing file of a snapshot.

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 · moderate confidence

A path traversal vulnerability in Xen/QEMU allows x86 HVM guest users to read arbitrary dom0 files via QMP live CDROM insertion by specifying an arbitrary file as the backing file of a snapshot, bypassing hypervisor isolation.

MitigationRestrict QMP access from HVM guests or upgrade to Xen 4.11+ which contains the fix; avoid using configurations where guests can control CDROM backing file 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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 9.0
XenOperating system
Affected:<= 4.10.1

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
High
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Changed
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:N/A:N

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. Check Xen hypervisor version
    Run 'xl info -r' or 'xm info' and look for xen_version, or check '/sys/hypervisor/version/type'
    Affected if Version is 4.10.1 or lower, or the Debian host is version 9.0 with Xen
  2. Identify if HVM guests are running
    Run 'xl list' and check for guests with type 'HVM' in the output
    Affected if Any x86 HVM guests are running on the host
  3. Check if QMP access is exposed to guests
    Look for QEMU monitor sockets or QMP ports in the guest domain configuration via 'xl list -l <guestname>' and check for 'qmp' or 'monitor' entries that are accessible
    Affected if QMP or monitor interface is accessible from within HVM guests (not restricted to dom0 only)
  4. Verify CDROM drive configuration for HVM guests
    Run 'xl list -l <guestname>' and examine the 'cdrom' or 'disk' device entries for HVM guests
    Affected if Guests have CDROM drives configured that could accept live insertion of arbitrary files as backing files

A system is affected if it runs Xen <= 4.10.1 (or Debian 9.0 with Xen), has x86 HVM guests running, and those guests have access to QMP which allows controlling CDROM backing file 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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 4.10.1
Interim mitigation

Restrict QMP access from HVM guests or upgrade to Xen 4.11+ which contains the fix; avoid using configurations where guests can control CDROM backing file paths.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation12.0 h
  • Testing10.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
32.0 hours of engineering $5,580
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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-2018-10472 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data