CVE-2016-5242 Null dereference in n/a

Medium 5.6 Published 7 Jun 2016 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Local guest users can crash the host OS via a NULL pointer dereference in Xen's p2m teardown function by exhausting VMIDs.

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

What is CVE-2016-5242?

CVE-2016-5242 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Xen Xen, published on 7 Jun 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The p2m_teardown function in arch/arm/p2m.c in Xen 4.4.x through 4.6.x allows local guest OS users with access to the driver domain to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and host OS crash) by creating concurrent domains and holding references to them, related to VMID exhaustion.

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-5242?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Xen Xen.

How do I fix CVE-2016-5242?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2016-5242 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-5242 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Xen Xen vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2016-5242, GHSA-2vf7-h2xh-7v4v, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-5242.