CVE-2020-25595: debian debian_linux Improper Privilege Management
Vulnerability summary
CVE-2020-25595 is a high (CVSS 7.8) Improper Privilege Management vulnerability in debian debian_linux. EPSS estimates a 0.37% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 31.3% of scored vulnerabilities.
Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources
Source freshness unavailable
How is this decided?Advisory lineage
Upstream 0 · Downstream 12 · Related 11Timeline
- 23-09-2020PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
- 04-08-2024Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.
Description
An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. The PCI passthrough code improperly uses register data. Code paths in Xen's MSI handling have been identified that act on unsanitized values read back from device hardware registers. While devices strictly compliant with PCI specifications shouldn't be able to affect these registers, experience shows that it's very common for devices to have out-of-spec "backdoor" operations that can affect the result of these reads. A not fully trusted guest may be able to crash Xen, leading to a Denial of Service (DoS) for the entire system. Privilege escalation and information leaks cannot be excluded. All versions of Xen supporting PCI passthrough are affected. Only x86 systems are vulnerable. Arm systems are not vulnerable. Only guests with passed through PCI devices may be able to leverage the vulnerability. Only systems passing through devices with out-of-spec ("backdoor") functionality can cause issues. Experience shows that such out-of-spec functionality is common; unless you have reason to believe that your device does not have such functionality, it's better to assume that it does.
CVSS metrics
5 scores · 4 sources · 2 versions- OSV · AlpineEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · UbuntuEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- OSV · DebianEcosystem advisory · calculated7.8HighCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS trend
Probability
0.37%
Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days
Percentile
31%
Versus all other CVEs
30-day change
No change 0.00 pp
From 0.37% on 04-10-2026
Known exploited
Compare KEV catalogsNot in the CISA KEV catalog.
Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.
Not in the CIRCL catalog.
Public exploits
0 foundNo public exploits indexed.
Weaknesses
CWE · root causeAffected systems
Known conditions: local access, low-privilege account, no user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.
Debian2 products
- xen< 4.14.0+80-gd101b417b7-1
- debian_linuxEOL10.0
Alpine1 product
- xen< 4.12.3-r4 | < 4.13.1-r4 | < 4.14.0-r1 | < 4.11.4-r2
Fedoraproject1 product
- fedoraEOL31 | 32 | 33
Opensuse1 product
- leapEOL15.2
Ubuntu1 product
- xenAll versions (No fix recorded) | < 4.11.3+24-g14b62ab3e5-1ubuntu2.3
Xen1 product
- xen≤ 4.14.0
6 vendors · 7 products
References
12 links- lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-10/msg00008.htmlVendor AdvisoryX Refsource SUSEMailing ListThird Party Advisory