# CVE-2011-1898: Privilege escalation in n/a

> Guest OS users can gain host OS privileges via DMA-generated MSI interrupts when using PCI passthrough on Intel VT-d chipsets without interrupt remapping.

- **Severity:** High 7.4 (`AV:A/AC:M/Au:S/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:** Yes
- **Published:** 12 Aug 2011
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2011-1898, GHSA-567h-gr95-57mc

## What is CVE-2011-1898?

CVE-2011-1898 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Aug 2011. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Xen 4.1 before 4.1.1 and 4.0 before 4.0.2, when using PCI passthrough on Intel VT-d chipsets that do not have interrupt remapping, allows guest OS users to gain host OS privileges by "using DMA to generate MSI interrupts by writing to the interrupt injection registers."

Weakness: CWE-264

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2011-1898?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Citrix Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2011-1898?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2011-1898 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2011-1898 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2008-5716](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-5716/): Missing authorization in n/a (high 7.2)
- [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-2011-1898 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2011-1898 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Aug 2011. 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-2011-1898 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-2011-1898/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1898/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2011-1898
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2011-1898
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2011-1898

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2011-1898/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.