CVE-2020-15863

What it is

hw/net/xgmac.c in the XGMAC Ethernet controller in QEMU before 07-20-2020 has a buffer overflow. This occurs during packet transmission and affects the highbank and midway emulated machines. A guest user or process could use this flaw to crash the QEMU process on the host, resulting in a denial of service or potential privileged code execution. This was fixed in commit 5519724a13664b43e225ca05351c60b4468e4555.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with a low-privilege account. Limited direct impact.

Exploit odds

0.5% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

A patch, advisory or fixed version is referenced. Upgrade or apply it.

Timeline

1. 2020-07-28 16:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 02:57 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.5% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 5.3 MEDIUM (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2020-07-28 16:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 02:57 UTC

Exploit probability

0.5% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-787 · Out-of-bounds write

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Qemu ≤ 5.0.0
• Qemu 5.1.0
• Debian Linux 10.0
• Canonical Ubuntu Linux 16.04
• Canonical Ubuntu Linux 18.04
• Canonical Ubuntu Linux 20.04

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 5.3

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

High

Privileges needed

Low

User interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Availability

Low

Is it in your code?

Hand this to your coding agent. It searches your project for the affected products and checks versions. Nothing leaves your machine.

Read https://cve-list.com/agent/cve/CVE-2020-15863.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2020-15863. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

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