Privilege Escalation and Denial of Service Vulnerability in Linux Kernel for 64-bit PV Xen Guests

CVE-2016-3157 · HIGH Severity

AV:L/AC:L/AU:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

The __switch_to function in arch/x86/kernel/process_64.c in the Linux kernel does not properly context-switch IOPL on 64-bit PV Xen guests, which allows local guest OS users to gain privileges, cause a denial of service (guest OS crash), or obtain sensitive information by leveraging I/O port access.

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