CVE-2020-29480

What it is

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. Neither xenstore implementation does any permission checks when reporting a xenstore watch event. A guest administrator can watch the root xenstored node, which will cause notifications for every created, modified, and deleted key. A guest administrator can also use the special watches, which will cause a notification every time a domain is created and destroyed. Data may include: number, type, and domids of other VMs; existence and domids of driver domains; numbers of virtual interfaces, block devices, vcpus; existence of virtual framebuffers and their backend style (e.g., existence of VNC service); Xen VM UUIDs for other domains; timing information about domain creation and device setup; and some hints at the backend provisioning of VMs and their devices. The watch events do not contain values stored in xenstore, only key names. A guest administrator can observe non-sensitive domain and device lifecycle events relating to other guests. This information allows some insight into overall system configuration (including the number and general nature of other guests), and configuration of other guests (including the number and general nature of other guests' devices). This information might be commercially interesting or might make other attacks easier. There is not believed to be exposure of sensitive data. Specifically, there is no exposure of VNC passwords, port numbers, pathnames in host and guest filesystems, cryptographic keys, or within-guest data.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with an admin-level account. Limited direct impact.

Exploit odds

0.3% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days (EPSS).

Fix

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

Timeline

1. 2020-12-15 18:15 UTC PublishedDisclosed publicly on CVE.org and NVD
2. 2026-06-17 03:11 UTC Last updatedMost recent change to the record

Why it ranks here

• Exploited in the wild: no, CISA does not list it.
• Exploit odds: 0.3% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 2.3 LOW (CVSS).
• Fix: a patch or advisory is linked.

Details

Published

2020-12-15 18:15 UTC

Last modified

2026-06-17 03:11 UTC

Exploit probability

0.3% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-862 · Missing authorization

Record status

Modified

Affected

• Xen ≤ 4.14.0
• Debian Linux 10.0
• Fedoraproject Fedora 32
• Fedoraproject Fedora 33

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 2.3

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

High

User interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

None

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-2020-29480.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2020-29480. 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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