Headline
CVE-2019-18421: 299 - Xen Security Advisories
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.12.x allowing x86 PV guest OS users to gain host OS privileges by leveraging race conditions in pagetable promotion and demotion operations. There are issues with restartable PV type change operations. To avoid using shadow pagetables for PV guests, Xen exposes the actual hardware pagetables to the guest. In order to prevent the guest from modifying these page tables directly, Xen keeps track of how pages are used using a type system; pages must be “promoted” before being used as a pagetable, and “demoted” before being used for any other type. Xen also allows for “recursive” promotions: i.e., an operating system promoting a page to an L4 pagetable may end up causing pages to be promoted to L3s, which may in turn cause pages to be promoted to L2s, and so on. These operations may take an arbitrarily large amount of time, and so must be re-startable. Unfortunately, making recursive pagetable promotion and demotion operations restartable is incredibly complicated, and the code contains several races which, if triggered, can cause Xen to drop or retain extra type counts, potentially allowing guests to get write access to in-use pagetables. A malicious PV guest administrator may be able to escalate their privilege to that of the host. All x86 systems with untrusted PV guests are vulnerable. HVM and PVH guests cannot exercise this vulnerability.
Information
Advisory
XSA-299
Public release
2019-10-31 12:00
Updated
2019-10-31 12:28
Version
4
CVE(s)
CVE-2019-18421
Title
Issues with restartable PV type change operations
Filesadvisory-299.txt (signed advisory file)
xsa299.meta
xsa299-4.8/0001-x86-mm-Clean-up-trailing-whitespace.patch
xsa299-4.8/0002-x86-mm-L1TF-checks-don-t-leave-a-partial-entry.patch
xsa299-4.8/0003-x86-mm-Don-t-re-set-PGT_pinned-on-a-partially-de-val.patch
xsa299-4.8/0004-x86-mm-Separate-out-partial_pte-tristate-into-indivi.patch
xsa299-4.8/0005-x86-mm-Use-flags-for-_put_page_type-rather-than-a-bo.patch
xsa299-4.8/0006-x86-mm-Rework-get_page_and_type_from_mfn-conditional.patch
xsa299-4.8/0007-x86-mm-Have-alloc_l-23-_table-clear-partial_flags-wh.patch
xsa299-4.8/0008-x86-mm-Always-retain-a-general-ref-on-partial.patch
xsa299-4.8/0009-x86-mm-Collapse-PTF_partial_set-and-PTF_partial_gene.patch
xsa299-4.8/0010-x86-mm-Properly-handle-linear-pagetable-promotion-fa.patch
xsa299-4.8/0011-x86-mm-Fix-nested-de-validation-on-error.patch
xsa299-4.8/0012-x86-mm-Don-t-drop-a-type-ref-unless-you-held-a-ref-t.patch
xsa299-4.9/0001-x86-mm-Clean-up-trailing-whitespace.patch
xsa299-4.9/0002-x86-mm-L1TF-checks-don-t-leave-a-partial-entry.patch
xsa299-4.9/0003-x86-mm-Don-t-re-set-PGT_pinned-on-a-partially-de-val.patch
xsa299-4.9/0004-x86-mm-Separate-out-partial_pte-tristate-into-indivi.patch
xsa299-4.9/0005-x86-mm-Use-flags-for-_put_page_type-rather-than-a-bo.patch
xsa299-4.9/0006-x86-mm-Rework-get_page_and_type_from_mfn-conditional.patch
xsa299-4.9/0007-x86-mm-Have-alloc_l-23-_table-clear-partial_flags-wh.patch
xsa299-4.9/0008-x86-mm-Always-retain-a-general-ref-on-partial.patch
xsa299-4.9/0009-x86-mm-Collapse-PTF_partial_set-and-PTF_partial_gene.patch
xsa299-4.9/0010-x86-mm-Properly-handle-linear-pagetable-promotion-fa.patch
xsa299-4.9/0011-x86-mm-Fix-nested-de-validation-on-error.patch
xsa299-4.9/0012-x86-mm-Don-t-drop-a-type-ref-unless-you-held-a-ref-t.patch
xsa299-4.10/0001-x86-mm-L1TF-checks-don-t-leave-a-partial-entry.patch
xsa299-4.10/0002-x86-mm-Don-t-re-set-PGT_pinned-on-a-partially-de-val.patch
xsa299-4.10/0003-x86-mm-Separate-out-partial_pte-tristate-into-indivi.patch
xsa299-4.10/0004-x86-mm-Use-flags-for-_put_page_type-rather-than-a-bo.patch
xsa299-4.10/0005-x86-mm-Rework-get_page_and_type_from_mfn-conditional.patch
xsa299-4.10/0006-x86-mm-Have-alloc_l-23-_table-clear-partial_flags-wh.patch
xsa299-4.10/0007-x86-mm-Always-retain-a-general-ref-on-partial.patch
xsa299-4.10/0008-x86-mm-Collapse-PTF_partial_set-and-PTF_partial_gene.patch
xsa299-4.10/0009-x86-mm-Properly-handle-linear-pagetable-promotion-fa.patch
xsa299-4.10/0010-x86-mm-Fix-nested-de-validation-on-error.patch
xsa299-4.10/0011-x86-mm-Don-t-drop-a-type-ref-unless-you-held-a-ref-t.patch
xsa299-4.11/0001-x86-mm-L1TF-checks-don-t-leave-a-partial-entry.patch
xsa299-4.11/0002-x86-mm-Don-t-re-set-PGT_pinned-on-a-partially-de-val.patch
xsa299-4.11/0003-x86-mm-Separate-out-partial_pte-tristate-into-indivi.patch
xsa299-4.11/0004-x86-mm-Use-flags-for-_put_page_type-rather-than-a-bo.patch
xsa299-4.11/0005-x86-mm-Rework-get_page_and_type_from_mfn-conditional.patch
xsa299-4.11/0006-x86-mm-Have-alloc_l-23-_table-clear-partial_flags-wh.patch
xsa299-4.11/0007-x86-mm-Always-retain-a-general-ref-on-partial.patch
xsa299-4.11/0008-x86-mm-Collapse-PTF_partial_set-and-PTF_partial_gene.patch
xsa299-4.11/0009-x86-mm-Properly-handle-linear-pagetable-promotion-fa.patch
xsa299-4.11/0010-x86-mm-Fix-nested-de-validation-on-error.patch
xsa299-4.11/0011-x86-mm-Don-t-drop-a-type-ref-unless-you-held-a-ref-t.patch
xsa299-4.12/0001-x86-mm-L1TF-checks-don-t-leave-a-partial-entry.patch
xsa299-4.12/0002-x86-mm-Don-t-re-set-PGT_pinned-on-a-partially-de-val.patch
xsa299-4.12/0003-x86-mm-Separate-out-partial_pte-tristate-into-indivi.patch
xsa299-4.12/0004-x86-mm-Use-flags-for-_put_page_type-rather-than-a-bo.patch
xsa299-4.12/0005-x86-mm-Rework-get_page_and_type_from_mfn-conditional.patch
xsa299-4.12/0006-x86-mm-Have-alloc_l-23-_table-clear-partial_flags-wh.patch
xsa299-4.12/0007-x86-mm-Always-retain-a-general-ref-on-partial.patch
xsa299-4.12/0008-x86-mm-Collapse-PTF_partial_set-and-PTF_partial_gene.patch
xsa299-4.12/0009-x86-mm-Properly-handle-linear-pagetable-promotion-fa.patch
xsa299-4.12/0010-x86-mm-Fix-nested-de-validation-on-error.patch
xsa299-4.12/0011-x86-mm-Don-t-drop-a-type-ref-unless-you-held-a-ref-t.patch
xsa299/0001-x86-mm-L1TF-checks-don-t-leave-a-partial-entry.patch
xsa299/0002-x86-mm-Don-t-re-set-PGT_pinned-on-a-partially-de-val.patch
xsa299/0003-x86-mm-Separate-out-partial_pte-tristate-into-indivi.patch
xsa299/0004-x86-mm-Use-flags-for-_put_page_type-rather-than-a-bo.patch
xsa299/0005-x86-mm-Rework-get_page_and_type_from_mfn-conditional.patch
xsa299/0006-x86-mm-Have-alloc_l-23-_table-clear-partial_flags-wh.patch
xsa299/0007-x86-mm-Always-retain-a-general-ref-on-partial.patch
xsa299/0008-x86-mm-Collapse-PTF_partial_set-and-PTF_partial_gene.patch
xsa299/0009-x86-mm-Properly-handle-linear-pagetable-promotion-fa.patch
xsa299/0010-x86-mm-Fix-nested-de-validation-on-error.patch
xsa299/0011-x86-mm-Don-t-drop-a-type-ref-unless-you-held-a-ref-t.patchAdvisory
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA256
Xen Security Advisory CVE-2019-18421 / XSA-299
version 4
Issues with restartable PV type change operations
UPDATES IN VERSION 4
Public release.
ISSUE DESCRIPTION
To avoid using shadow pagetables for PV guests, Xen exposes the actual hardware pagetables to the guest. In order to prevent the guest from modifying these page tables directly, Xen keeps track of how pages are used using a type system; pages must be “promoted” before being used as a pagetable, and “demoted” before being used for any other type. Xen also allows for “recursive” promotions: i.e., an operating system promoting a page to an L4 pagetable may end up causing pages to be promoted to L3s, which may in turn cause pages to be promoted to L2s, and so on. These operations may take an arbitrarily large amount of time, and so must be re-startable.
Unfortunately, making recursive pagetable promotion and demotion operations restartable is incredibly complicated, and the code contains several races which, if triggered, can cause Xen to drop or retain extra type counts, potentially allowing guests to get write access to in-use pagetables.
IMPACT
A malicious PV guest administrator may be able to escalate their privilege to that of the host.
VULNERABLE SYSTEMS
All x86 systems with untrusted PV guests are vulnerable.
HVM and PVH guests cannot exercise this vulnerability. ARM systems are not vulnerable because ARM guests are all PVH.
All security-supported Xen versions are vulnerable.
Note that these attacks require very precise timing, which may be difficult to exploit in practice.
MITIGATION
Running only HVM or PVH guests will avoid this vulnerability.
Running PV guests in “shim” mode will also avoid this vulnerability.
CREDITS
This issue was discovered by George Dunlap of Citrix.
RESOLUTION
Applying the appropriate attached patch resolves this issue.
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NOTE ON RESOLUTION
Even with these fixes, the code is still very complicated. After the embargo is up, we plan to try getting rid of automatic recursive pagetable promotion entirely, instead requiring guest operating systems to promote pages one-by-one themselves. This would obviate the need to have restartable operations, greatly simplifying the reference counting code.
DEPLOYMENT DURING EMBARGO
Deployment of the patches and/or mitigations described above (or others which are substantially similar) is permitted during the embargo, even on public-facing systems with untrusted guest users and administrators.
But: Distribution of updated software is prohibited (except to other members of the predisclosure list).
Predisclosure list members who wish to deploy significantly different patches and/or mitigations, please contact the Xen Project Security Team.
(Note: this during-embargo deployment notice is retained in post-embargo publicly released Xen Project advisories, even though it is then no longer applicable. This is to enable the community to have oversight of the Xen Project Security Team’s decisionmaking.)
For more information about permissible uses of embargoed information, consult the Xen Project community’s agreed Security Policy: http://www.xenproject.org/security-policy.html -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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Xenproject.org Security Team