CVE-2020-29482

What it is

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.14.x. A guest may access xenstore paths via absolute paths containing a full pathname, or via a relative path, which implicitly includes /local/domain/$DOMID for their own domain id. Management tools must access paths in guests' namespaces, necessarily using absolute paths. oxenstored imposes a pathname limit that is applied solely to the relative or absolute path specified by the client. Therefore, a guest can create paths in its own namespace which are too long for management tools to access. Depending on the toolstack in use, a malicious guest administrator might cause some management tools and debugging operations to fail. For example, a guest administrator can cause "xenstore-ls -r" to fail. However, a guest administrator cannot prevent the host administrator from tearing down the domain. All systems using oxenstored are vulnerable. Building and using oxenstored is the default in the upstream Xen distribution, if the Ocaml compiler is available. Systems using C xenstored are not vulnerable.

At a glance

Exploitability

Can be exploited locally on the machine with an admin-level account. High risk of service disruption.

Exploit odds

0.4% 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: 0.4% in the next 30 days (EPSS).
• Severity: 6.0 MEDIUM (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

0.4% · EPSS, next 30 days

Weakness

CWE-426

Record status

Modified

Affected

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

Attack profile CVSS 3.1 · 6.0

Attack vector

Local

Complexity

Low

Privileges needed

High

User interaction

None

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

None

Integrity

None

Availability

High

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-2020-29482.md and follow it. Check whether this project is affected by CVE-2020-29482. Read only. Don't change anything and don't upload my code. Tell me yes, no or not sure, with the file as proof.

Copy as ticket · More options · Status badge