# CVE-2015-8554: Memory corruption in n/a

> Local guest administrators can gain privileges via buffer overflow in Xen when using specific device models with passed-through PCI devices.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** An administrator
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 14 Apr 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8554, GHSA-jj32-x32m-v858, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-8554

## What is CVE-2015-8554?

CVE-2015-8554 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 14 Apr 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Buffer overflow in hw/pt-msi.c in Xen 4.6.x and earlier, when using the qemu-xen-traditional (aka qemu-dm) device model, allows local x86 HVM guest administrators to gain privileges by leveraging a system with access to a passed-through MSI-X capable physical PCI device and MSI-X table entries, related to a "write path."

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-8554?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Xen Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-8554?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2015-8554 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8554 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-2015-8554 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-8554 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 14 Apr 2016. 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-2015-8554 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-2015-8554/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8554/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8554
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8554
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-8554

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8554/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.