# CVE-2020-29481: Information disclosure in n/a

> A new domain can inherit access rights from a destroyed domain, allowing it to read sensitive Xenstore data belonging to other guests.

- **Severity:** High 8.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **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:** 15 Dec 2020
- **Updated:** 4 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2020-29481, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-29481, GHSA-vcqm-hqq4-5mxm, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-29481

## What is CVE-2020-29481?

CVE-2020-29481 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 15 Dec 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Access rights of Xenstore nodes are per domid. Unfortunately, existing granted access rights are not removed when a domain is being destroyed. This means that a new domain created with the same domid will inherit the access rights to Xenstore nodes from the previous domain(s) with the same domid. Because all Xenstore entries of a guest below /local/domain/<domid> are being deleted by Xen tools when a guest is destroyed, only Xenstore entries of other guests still running are affected. For example, a newly created guest domain might be able to read sensitive information that had belonged to a previously existing guest domain. Both Xenstore implementations (C and Ocaml) are vulnerable.

Weakness: CWE-269 (Improper Privilege Management)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-29481?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Xen Xen.

## How do I fix CVE-2020-29481?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2020-29481 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-29481 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

- [CVE-2015-3306](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-3306/): ProFTPD Improper Access Control (critical 10.0, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-49113](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-49113/): RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data (critical 9.9, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-24061](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-24061/): GNU InetUtils Argument Injection (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2025-39682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-39682/): Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2024-9680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-9680/): Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2020-29481 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2020-29481 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 15 Dec 2020. 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-2020-29481 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Debian Debian Linux. 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-2020-29481/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29481/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2020-29481
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2020-29481
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2020-29481

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-29481/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.