# CVE-2008-5716: Missing authorization in n/a

> Guest OS users can cause denial of service and other impacts by improperly writing to xenstore directories due to missing authorization checks.

- **Severity:** High 7.2 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 24 Dec 2008
- **Updated:** 7 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-r6vm-2jmq-5wqx

## What is CVE-2008-5716?

CVE-2008-5716 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Dec 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

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.

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2008-5716?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Citrix Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2008-5716?

No fix has been published for CVE-2008-5716 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2008-5716 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-5716 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2011-1898](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1898/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.4)
- [CVE-2008-4405](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-4405/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 7.2)
- [CVE-2011-1583](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1583/): Integer overflow in n/a (medium 6.9)
- [CVE-2010-4255](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4255/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 6.1)
- [CVE-2010-4238](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-4238/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2008-5716 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2008-5716 is a high-severity missing authorization vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Dec 2008. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2008-5716 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5716/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5716/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2008-5716
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2008-5716
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2008-5716

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5716/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.