# CVE-2022-42332: Use after free in xen

> A use-after-free in Xen's shadow paging mode allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or escalate privileges when log-dirty mode is active.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/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:** 21 Mar 2023
- **Updated:** 13 Feb 2025
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2022-42332, DEBIAN-CVE-2022-42332, GHSA-jg93-x3r7-r8pf, UBUNTU-CVE-2022-42332

## What is CVE-2022-42332?

CVE-2022-42332 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 21 Mar 2023. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

x86 shadow plus log-dirty mode use-after-free In environments where host assisted address translation is necessary but Hardware Assisted Paging (HAP) is unavailable, Xen will run guests in so called shadow mode. Shadow mode maintains a pool of memory used for both shadow page tables as well as auxiliary data structures. To migrate or snapshot guests, Xen additionally runs them in so called log-dirty mode. The data structures needed by the log-dirty tracking are part of aformentioned auxiliary data. In order to keep error handling efforts within reasonable bounds, for operations which may require memory allocations shadow mode logic ensures up front that enough memory is available for the worst case requirements. Unfortunately, while page table memory is properly accounted for on the code path requiring the potential establishing of new shadows, demands by the log-dirty infrastructure were not taken into consideration. As a result, just established shadow page tables could be freed again immediately, while other code is still accessing them on the assumption that they would remain allocated.

Weakness: CWE-416 (Use After Free)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2022-42332?

It affects 3 products.


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

## How do I fix CVE-2022-42332?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2022-42332 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2022-42332 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-2022-42332 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2022-42332 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 21 Mar 2023. 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-2022-42332 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-2022-42332/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-42332/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2022-42332
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2022-42332
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2022-42332

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-42332/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.