CVE-2026-72380

Summary

In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved:

xen/pvcalls: bound backend response req_id before indexing rsp[]

pvcalls_front_event_handler() takes req_id directly from the backend-supplied ring response and uses it to index the fixed-size bedata->rsp[] array for a memcpy() and a store, with no range check. A malicious or buggy backend can set req_id past PVCALLS_NR_RSP_PER_RING and drive an out-of-bounds write past the bedata allocation.

req_id was also declared int while the wire field rsp->req_id is u32, so a range check on the signed value alone is insufficient: a backend req_id of 0xffffffff becomes -1, passes a >= PVCALLS_NR_RSP_PER_RING test and indexes bedata->rsp[-1]. Declare req_id as u32 so a single bound covers both ends.

A backend that sends an out-of-range req_id has violated the wire protocol, so rather than silently dropping the response, log once and stop trusting the backend: set bedata->disabled. The event handler then ignores further responses, and the request paths that wait for a response return -EIO instead of blocking forever. This mirrors the fatal-error handling xen-netback uses (xenvif_fatal_tx_err()).

The pvcalls frontend currently trusts its backend, so this is not a classic-Xen security issue, but it matters for hardening PV frontends against malicious backends (confidential and disaggregated deployments).

Affected Software

VendorProductVersion RangeStatus
LinuxLinux2195046bfd69e487d9a76dc47840f15c8412840c < d1297a9e2fd6ce08678b370d41bc980ca798f809affected
LinuxLinux2195046bfd69e487d9a76dc47840f15c8412840c < d33846c8dcc06b83b7acdeac1e8bfbb5c0c26cb2affected
LinuxLinux4.15affected
LinuxLinux0 < 4.15unaffected
LinuxLinux7.1.5 <= 7.1.*unaffected
LinuxLinux7.2 <= *unaffected

Weaknesses

References