In the context switch logic Xen attempts to skip an IBPB in the case of
a vCPU returning to a CPU on which it was the previous vCPU to run.
While safe for Xen's isolation between vCPUs, this prevents the guest
kernel correctly isolating between tasks. Consider:

1) vCPU runs on CPU A, running task 1.
2) vCPU moves to CPU B, idle gets scheduled on A. Xen skips IBPB.
3) On CPU B, guest kernel switches from task 1 to 2, issuing IBPB.
4) vCPU moves back to CPU A. Xen skips IBPB again.

Now, task 2 is running on CPU A with task 1's training still in the BTB.
Advisories

No advisories yet.

Fixes

Solution

No solution given by the vendor.


Workaround

Using "spec-ctrl=ibpb-entry=hvm,ibpb-entry=pv" on the Xen command line will activate the SRSO mitigation on non-SRSO-vulnerable hardware, but it is a large overhead.

History

Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:30:00 +0000


Wed, 28 Jan 2026 17:15:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Weaknesses CWE-665
CWE-693
Metrics cvssV3_1

{'score': 2.9, 'vector': 'CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N'}

ssvc

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


Wed, 28 Jan 2026 16:00:00 +0000

Type Values Removed Values Added
Description In the context switch logic Xen attempts to skip an IBPB in the case of a vCPU returning to a CPU on which it was the previous vCPU to run. While safe for Xen's isolation between vCPUs, this prevents the guest kernel correctly isolating between tasks. Consider: 1) vCPU runs on CPU A, running task 1. 2) vCPU moves to CPU B, idle gets scheduled on A. Xen skips IBPB. 3) On CPU B, guest kernel switches from task 1 to 2, issuing IBPB. 4) vCPU moves back to CPU A. Xen skips IBPB again. Now, task 2 is running on CPU A with task 1's training still in the BTB.
Title x86: incomplete IBPB for vCPU isolation
References

Projects

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cve-icon MITRE

Status: PUBLISHED

Assigner: XEN

Published:

Updated: 2026-01-28T16:41:14.803Z

Reserved: 2026-01-14T13:07:36.961Z

Link: CVE-2026-23553

cve-icon Vulnrichment

Updated: 2026-01-28T16:12:31.841Z

cve-icon NVD

Status : Received

Published: 2026-01-28T16:16:16.853

Modified: 2026-01-28T17:16:15.990

Link: CVE-2026-23553

cve-icon Redhat

No data.

cve-icon OpenCVE Enrichment

No data.

Weaknesses