# CVE-2013-4371: Use after free in n/a

> Local attackers can trigger a use-after-free in Xen's libxl library under memory pressure, causing crashes or potentially executing arbitrary code.

- **Severity:** Medium 4.4 (`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P`)
- **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:** 17 Oct 2013
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2013-4371, GHSA-3hjr-2qmj-c4wj

## What is CVE-2013-4371?

CVE-2013-4371 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 17 Oct 2013. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Use-after-free vulnerability in the libxl_list_cpupool function in the libxl toolstack library in Xen 4.2.x and 4.3.x, when running "under memory pressure," returns the original pointer when the realloc function fails, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (heap corruption and crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2013-4371?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Xen Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2013-4371?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2013-4371 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2013-4371 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Xen Xen

- [CVE-2017-10912](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10912/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-10918](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10918/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-10920](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10920/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2017-10921](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10921/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2025-27466](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-27466/): Mutiple vulnerabilities in the Viridian interface (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2013-4371 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2013-4371 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 17 Oct 2013. 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-2013-4371 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Xen Xen. 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-2013-4371/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4371/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2013-4371
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2013-4371
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2013-4371

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-4371/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.