CVE-2026-23554

Use after free of paging structures in EPT

Published Mar 23, 2026 CVSS 3.1 · 7.8 High EPSS < 1% KEV · Not listed
Description
The Intel EPT paging code uses an optimization to defer flushing of any cached
EPT state until the p2m lock is dropped, so that multiple modifications done
under the same locked region only issue a single flush.

Freeing of paging structures however is not deferred until the flushing is
done, and can result in freed pages transiently being present in cached state.
Such stale entries can point to memory ranges not owned by the guest, thus
allowing access to unintended memory regions.

Remediation

Vendor Workaround

There are no mitigations.

Tracking

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Advisories

Source ID Title
Debian DLA Debian DLA DLA-4818-1 xen security update
Debian DSA Debian DSA DSA-6424-1 xen security update
History
Type Values Removed Values Added
CPEs cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:*:*:*:*:*:*:x86:*
Type Values Removed Values Added
First Time appeared Xen
Xen xen
Vendors & Products Xen
Xen xen
Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-367
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 7.8, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H'}

ssvc

{'options': {'Automatable': 'no', 'Exploitation': 'none', 'Technical Impact': 'total'}, 'version': '2.0.3'}

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description The Intel EPT paging code uses an optimization to defer flushing of any cached EPT state until the p2m lock is dropped, so that multiple modifications done under the same locked region only issue a single flush. Freeing of paging structures however is not deferred until the flushing is done, and can result in freed pages transiently being present in cached state. Such stale entries can point to memory ranges not owned by the guest, thus allowing access to unintended memory regions.
Title Use after free of paging structures in EPT
References
Weaknesses

Sources

Status
PUBLISHED
Assigner
XEN
Published
Updated
Mar 23, 2026, 2:19 PM
Reserved
Jan 14, 2026, 1:07 PM
Status
Analyzed
Published
Mar 23, 2026, 7:16 AM
Modified
Jun 17, 2026, 10:21 AM