(CVE-2017-5754, one aspect of XSA-254). This involves copying 64-bit PV
guest page table entries from guest-chosen root page tables to the Xen-
chosen one which is in actual use by hardware. To read the guest root
page table, the directmap is used. PV guests, however, have a directmap
which may not cover all memory; in particular this is the case if any
memory extends beyond the 5 TiB (CONFIG_BIGMEM=y: 3.5 TiB) address
boundary.
No advisories yet.
Solution
No solution given by the vendor.
Workaround
Not running 64-bit PV guests will avoid the vulnerability. The "mem=" hypervisor command line option may be used to limit the amount of memory Xen is going to use. That would be "mem=5T" for the CONFIG_BIGMEM=n case and "mem=3584G" for the CONFIG_BIGMEM=y one.
Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:15:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| First Time appeared |
Xen
Xen xen |
|
| Vendors & Products |
Xen
Xen xen |
Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:00:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Weaknesses | CWE-200 CWE-284 |
Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:30:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| References |
|
Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:00:00 +0000
| Type | Values Removed | Values Added |
|---|---|---|
| Description | XPTI (Xen Page Table Isolation) was introduced to mitigate Meltdown (CVE-2017-5754, one aspect of XSA-254). This involves copying 64-bit PV guest page table entries from guest-chosen root page tables to the Xen- chosen one which is in actual use by hardware. To read the guest root page table, the directmap is used. PV guests, however, have a directmap which may not cover all memory; in particular this is the case if any memory extends beyond the 5 TiB (CONFIG_BIGMEM=y: 3.5 TiB) address boundary. | |
| Title | x86: XPTI may break on huge-memory systems | |
| References |
|
Projects
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Status: PUBLISHED
Assigner: XEN
Published:
Updated: 2026-10-13T16:13:43.715Z
Reserved: 2026-08-25T07:35:05.289Z
Link: CVE-2026-79609
No data.
Status : Received
Published: 2026-10-13T16:17:23.147
Modified: 2026-10-13T17:17:46.773
Link: CVE-2026-79609
No data.
OpenCVE Enrichment
Updated: 2026-10-13T19:00:06Z