# CVE-2022-23039: Race condition in unspecified > A race condition in Linux Xen PV device frontends allows malicious backends to leak or corrupt guest memory and cause denial of service. - **Severity:** High 7.0 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/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:** 10 Mar 2022 - **Updated:** 3 Aug 2024 - **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2022-23039, GHSA-xmmh-rrmp-q4m2, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-23039 ## What is CVE-2022-23039? CVE-2022-23039 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 Mar 2022. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim. ### Official description Linux PV device frontends vulnerable to attacks by backends T[his CNA information record relates to multiple CVEs; the text explains which aspects/vulnerabilities correspond to which CVE.] Several Linux PV device frontends are using the grant table interfaces for removing access rights of the backends in ways being subject to race conditions, resulting in potential data leaks, data corruption by malicious backends, and denial of service triggered by malicious backends: blkfront, netfront, scsifront and the gntalloc driver are testing whether a grant reference is still in use. If this is not the case, they assume that a following removal of the granted access will always succeed, which is not true in case the backend has mapped the granted page between those two operations. As a result the backend can keep access to the memory page of the guest no matter how the page will be used after the frontend I/O has finished. The xenbus driver has a similar problem, as it doesn't check the success of removing the granted access of a shared ring buffer. blkfront: CVE-2022-23036 netfront: CVE-2022-23037 scsifront: CVE-2022-23038 gntalloc: CVE-2022-23039 xenbus: CVE-2022-23040 blkfront, netfront, scsifront, usbfront, dmabuf, xenbus, 9p, kbdfront, and pvcalls are using a functionality to delay freeing a grant reference until it is no longer in use, but the freeing of the related data page is not synchronized with dropping the granted access. As a result the backend can keep access to the memory page even after it has been freed and then re-used for a different purpose. CVE-2022-23041 netfront will fail a BUG_ON() assertion if it fails to revoke access in the rx path. This will result in a Denial of Service (DoS) situation of the guest which can be triggered by the backend. CVE-2022-23042 Weakness: CWE-362 (Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization) ## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-23039? It affects 2 products. Products: Debian Debian Linux, Xen Xen. ## How do I fix CVE-2022-23039? Apply the vendor's patch. ## Is CVE-2022-23039 being exploited? There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-23039 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-2022-23039 and fix it if it is affected. What it is: CVE-2022-23039 is a high-severity vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 Mar 2022. 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-2022-23039 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-2022-23039/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23039/index.md) ``` ## Sources - CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-23039 - NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-23039 - OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-23039 --- From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-23039/ Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.