CVE-2023-46835

x86/AMD: mismatch in IOMMU quarantine page table levels

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS Score
Published: January 5, 2024 at 04:34 PM UTC
Updated: June 17, 2026 at 06:31 AM UTC
1 product affected across 1 vendorXen

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Severity
MEDIUM5.5
Exploit prediction
EPSS 0.3%
SSVC
No known exploit

Description

The current setup of the quarantine page tables assumes that the quarantine domain (dom_io) has been initialized with an address width of DEFAULT_DOMAIN_ADDRESS_WIDTH (48) and hence 4 page table levels. However dom_io being a PV domain gets the AMD-Vi IOMMU page tables levels based on the maximum (hot pluggable) RAM address, and hence on systems with no RAM above the 512GB mark only 3 page-table levels are configured in the IOMMU. On systems without RAM above the 512GB boundary amd_iommu_quarantine_init() will setup page tables for the scratch page with 4 levels, while the IOMMU will be configured to use 3 levels only, resulting in the last page table directory (PDE) effectively becoming a page table entry (PTE), and hence a device in quarantine mode gaining write access to the page destined to be a PDE. Due to this page table level mismatch, the sink page the device gets read/write access to is no longer cleared between device assignment, possibly leading to data leaks.

Affected

Our own answer: ranges merged, affected separated from platform-only, with confidence and review flags.

Xen· Xenwordpress-plugin
95%
All versions
Vendor states this is fixed in consult Xen advisory XSA-445 (unknown)

Remediation

No guide yet

No remediation guidance has been written for this CVE yet. What the record does show:

References (2)

SSVC — Action Prioritization

SSVCNo known exploitNot automatablePartial impact

SSVC signals action urgency (what to patch first), separate from CVSS which measures severity.

CVSS

5.5MEDIUMCISA-ADP
Attack Vector
LOCAL
Complexity
LOW
Privileges
LOW
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality
HIGH
Integrity
NONE
Availability
NONE
Vector?

Quick Info

StatusMODIFIED
CWE
NVD-CWE-noinfoCWE-787

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