dbcve.org
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2018-7541

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-02-27
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 4.10.0 or later.
See remediation →
90/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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 guest OS users to cause a denial of service (hypervisor crash) or gain privileges by triggering a grant-table transition from v2 to v1.

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

A vulnerability in Xen's grant-table mechanism (versions through 4.10.x) allows guest OS users to trigger a grant-table version transition from v2 to v1, which can cause either a hypervisor crash (denial of service) or privilege escalation. The grant-table subsystem manages shared memory between virtual machines in Xen.

MitigationApply the Xen security patch for CVE-2018-7541 or upgrade to a Xen version beyond 4.10.x that addresses the grant-table version transition validation issue.

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:<= 4.10.0

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

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 checks

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

  1. Identify the Xen hypervisor version
    Run `xl info` or `xm info` and look for the 'xen_version' field, or check the installed package version with `dpkg -l | grep xen` on Debian systems
    Affected if The installed Xen version is 4.10.0 or any version <= 4.10.0 (e.g., 4.9.x, 4.8.x, etc.)
  2. Confirm the host is running Xen as the hypervisor
    Check for the presence of Xen-related processes (xenconsoled, qemu-dm) or verify /proc/xen exists, or run `xl list` to list domains
    Affected if The system is running Xen as the hypervisor platform
  3. Determine if any guest domains use grant tables
    Check running guest domains with `xl list` and review guest configuration files in /etc/xen/ for 'grant_table' or 'paravirt' settings
    Affected if Paravirtualized (PV) guests are running, as they rely on the grant-table mechanism for shared memory with the host

A system is affected if it runs Xen version 4.10.0 or lower and hosts paravirtualized guest domains that utilize grant tables, allowing a malicious guest to trigger the vulnerable v2-to-v1 version transition.

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 4.10.0
Interim mitigation

Apply the Xen security patch for CVE-2018-7541 or upgrade to a Xen version beyond 4.10.x that addresses the grant-table version transition validation issue.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation6.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
26.0 hours of engineering $4,560
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,296.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-7541 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2018-7541 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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