# CVE-2015-7311: Security feature bypass in n/a

> Local guest users can bypass read-only disk restrictions in Xen hypervisor to modify disk images.

- **Severity:** Low 3.6 (`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/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:** 1 Oct 2015
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-7311, GHSA-wx4v-7h7w-4x2j, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-7311

## What is CVE-2015-7311?

CVE-2015-7311 is a low-severity vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 1 Oct 2015. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

libxl in Xen 4.1.x through 4.6.x does not properly handle the readonly flag on disks when using the qemu-xen device model, which allows local guest users to write to a read-only disk image.

Weakness: CWE-17

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-7311?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Xen Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-7311?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2015-7311 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-7311 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-2015-7311 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-7311 is a low-severity vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 1 Oct 2015. 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-2015-7311 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-2015-7311/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-7311/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-7311
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-7311
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-7311

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-7311/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.