How severe is CVE-2022-42321?

CVE-2022-42321 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2022-42321 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (19th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2022-42321?

CVE-2022-42321 primarily affects Xen. In total, 5 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2022-42321?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2022-42321 published?

CVE-2022-42321 was published on 2022-11-01 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2022-42321

CVE-2022-42321 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Xen with a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-674.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 6.5)
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (19th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-674
Affected product: Xen
Published: 2022-11-01
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

Xenstore: Guests can crash xenstored via exhausting the stack Xenstored is using recursion for some Xenstore operations (e.g. for deleting a sub-tree of Xenstore nodes). With sufficiently deep nesting levels this can result in stack exhaustion on xenstored, leading to a crash of xenstored.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-42321?: Xenstore: Guests can crash xenstored via exhausting the stack Xenstored is using recursion for some Xenstore operations (e.g. for deleting a sub-tree of Xenstore nodes). With sufficiently deep nesting levels this can result in stack exhaustion on xenstored, leading to a crash of xenstored.
How severe is CVE-2022-42321?: CVE-2022-42321 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2022-42321 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (19th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2022-42321?: CVE-2022-42321 primarily affects Xen. In total, 5 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2022-42321?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2022-42321 published?: CVE-2022-42321 was published on 2022-11-01 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (5)

cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:-:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Xen

CVE-2017-10921 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The grant-table feature in Xen through 4.8.x does not ensure sufficient type counts for a GNTMAP_device_map and…
CVE-2017-10920 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The grant-table feature in Xen through 4.8.x mishandles a GNTMAP_device_map and GNTMAP_host_map mapping, when followed…
CVE-2017-10918 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Xen through 4.8.x does not validate memory allocations during certain P2M operations, which allows guest OS users to…
CVE-2017-10912 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Xen through 4.8.x mishandles page transfer, which allows guest OS users to obtain privileged host OS access, aka…
CVE-2015-8104 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The KVM subsystem in the Linux kernel through 4.2.6, and Xen 4.3.x through 4.6.x, allows guest OS users to cause a…
CVE-2018-12892 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): An issue was discovered in Xen 4.7 through 4.10.x. libxl fails to pass the readonly flag to qemu when setting up a SCSI…

All CVEs affecting Xen →

Other CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion) vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-43185 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ksmbd: fix signededness bug in…
CVE-2023-51803 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): LinuxServer.io Heimdall before 2.5.7 does not prevent use of icons that have non-image data such as the "<?php ?>"…
CVE-2021-41752 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Stack overflow vulnerability in Jerryscript before commit e1ce7dd7271288be8c0c8136eea9107df73a8ce2 on Oct 20, 2021 due…
CVE-2018-1000618 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): EOSIO/eos eos version after commit f1545dd0ae2b77580c2236fdb70ae7138d2c7168 contains a stack overflow vulnerability in…
CVE-2025-10728 — Critical (CVSS 9.4): When the module renders a Svg file that contains a <pattern> element, it might end up rendering it recursively leading…
CVE-2026-40324 — Critical (CVSS 9.1): Hot Chocolate is an open-source GraphQL server. Prior to versions 12.22.7, 13.9.16, 14.3.1, and 15.1.14, Hot…

Browse all CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion) vulnerabilities →