HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2015-8550
HIGH

CVE-2015-8550

CWE-284Published: April 14, 2016· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

8.2
CVSS v3.1

Official Description

Xen, when used on a system providing PV backends, allows local guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (host OS crash) or gain privileges by writing to memory shared between the frontend and backend, aka a double fetch vulnerability.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2015-8550 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.

Exploitation requires high privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 8.2.

The vulnerability has a "Changed" scope, meaning successful exploitation can impact components beyond the vulnerable component itself — such as the host operating system or adjacent services.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.High
User InteractionNone
ScopeChanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

novell1 product(s)
suse linux enterprise real time extension
xen1 product(s)
xen
Source: NVD CPE · 2 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
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Official Patches & Advisories

All References (22)

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2015-8550
CVSS Score8.2 / 10
SeverityHIGH
WeaknessCWE-284
CISA KEVNo
Affected2 vendor(s)
PublishedApr 14, 2016

Related CVEs (CWE-284)

Recommended Actions

  • Apply vendor patches immediately
  • Monitor CVE-2015-8550 in threat intel feeds
  • Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWATCH.COM. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.