How severe is CVE-2022-42322?

CVE-2022-42322 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, 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-2022-42322 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (20th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2022-42322?

CVE-2022-42322 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-2022-42322?

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

When was CVE-2022-42322 published?

CVE-2022-42322 was published on 2022-11-01 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2022-42322

CVE-2022-42322 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Xen with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. 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-401.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.5)
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (20th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-401
Affected product: Xen
Published: 2022-11-01
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

Xenstore: Cooperating guests can create arbitrary numbers of nodes T[his CNA information record relates to multiple CVEs; the text explains which aspects/vulnerabilities correspond to which CVE.] Since the fix of XSA-322 any Xenstore node owned by a removed domain will be modified to be owned by Dom0. This will allow two malicious guests working together to create an arbitrary number of Xenstore nodes. This is possible by domain A letting domain B write into domain A's local Xenstore tree. Domain B can then create many nodes and reboot. The nodes created by domain B will now be owned by Dom0. By repeating this process over and over again an arbitrary number of nodes can be created, as Dom0's number of nodes isn't limited by Xenstore quota.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2022-42322?: Xenstore: Cooperating guests can create arbitrary numbers of nodes T[his CNA information record relates to multiple CVEs; the text explains which aspects/vulnerabilities correspond to which CVE.] Since the fix of XSA-322 any Xenstore node owned by a removed domain will be modified to be owned by Dom0. This will allow two malicious guests working together to create an arbitrary number of Xenstore nodes. This is possible by domain A letting domain B write into domain A's local Xenstore tree. Domain B can then create many nodes and reboot. The nodes created by domain B will now be owned by Dom0. By repeating this process over and over again an arbitrary number of nodes can be created, as Dom0's number of nodes isn't limited by Xenstore quota.
How severe is CVE-2022-42322?: CVE-2022-42322 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, 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-2022-42322 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (20th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2022-42322?: CVE-2022-42322 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-2022-42322?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2022-42322 published?: CVE-2022-42322 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-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime) vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-46289 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: lib/scatterlist: fix length calculations in…
CVE-2022-0742 — Critical (CVSS 9.1): Memory leak in icmp6 implementation in Linux Kernel 5.13+ allows a remote attacker to DoS a host by making it go…
CVE-2024-25450 — High (CVSS 8.8): imlib2 v1.9.1 was discovered to mishandle memory allocation in the function init_imlib_fonts().
CVE-2023-33718 — High (CVSS 8.8): mp4v2 v2.1.3 was discovered to contain a memory leak via MP4File::ReadString() at mp4file_io.cpp
CVE-2021-40633 — High (CVSS 8.8): A memory leak (out-of-memory) in gif2rgb in util/gif2rgb.c in giflib 5.1.4 allows remote attackers trigger an out of…
CVE-2021-3492 — High (CVSS 8.8): Shiftfs, an out-of-tree stacking file system included in Ubuntu Linux kernels, did not properly handle faults occurring…

Browse all CWE-401 (Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime) vulnerabilities →