What is CVE-2017-15597?

CVE-2017-15597 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Xen, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2017-10-30.

How severe is CVE-2017-15597?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Xen

CVE-2017-15597

An issue was discovered in Xen through 4.9.x. Grant copying code made an implication that any grant pin would be accompanied by a suitable page reference. Other portions of code, however, did not match up with that assumption. When such a grant copy operation is being done on a grant of a dying domain, the assumption turns out wrong. A malicious guest administrator can cause hypervisor memory corruption, most likely resulting in host crash and a Denial of Service. Privilege escalation and information leaks cannot be ruled out.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2017-10-30 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.028 (86.1th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 86th percentile — 86.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.028 · newest: 0.028 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

References

xenbits.xen.org/xsa/advisory-236.html (Patch, Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/101564 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry, Issue Tracking)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/10/24/3 (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory, Mitigation, Issue Tracking)
www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-4050 (vendor-advisory)
support.citrix.com/article/CTX229057 (Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
www.securitytracker.com/id/1039653 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry, Issue Tracking)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/10/msg00009.html (mailing-list)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-15597?: CVE-2017-15597 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Xen, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2017-10-30.
How severe is CVE-2017-15597?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.