Load Value Injection (LVI) speculative side channel attack in Xen

1) Information disclosure

EUVDB-ID: #VU25898

Risk: Low

CVSSv3.1: 3 [CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N/E:P/RL:O/RC:C]

CVE-ID: CVE-2020-0551

CWE-ID: CWE-200 - Information exposure

Exploit availability: Yes

Description

The vulnerability allows a local user to gain access to potentially sensitive information.

The vulnerability exists due to load value injection in some Intel(R) Processors utilizing speculative execution may allow an authenticated user to potentially enable information disclosure via a side channel with local access.

Mitigation

Only Intel based processors are potentially affected. Processors from other manufacturers (e.g. AMD) are not believed to be vulnerable.

To mitigate this issue the vendor recommends to follow recommendations from Intel.

Vulnerable software versions

Xen: 2.0 - 25588

External links

http://xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-315.html

Q & A

Can this vulnerability be exploited remotely?

No. This vulnerability can be exploited locally. The attacker should have authentication credentials and successfully authenticate on the system.

Is there known malware, which exploits this vulnerability?

No. We are not aware of malware exploiting this vulnerability. However, proof of concept for this vulnerability is available.