Unrated severityNVD Advisory· Published Jan 28, 2026· Updated Jan 28, 2026
x86: incomplete IBPB for vCPU isolation
CVE-2026-23553
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.
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Affected products
11- osv-coords9 versionspkg:rpm/opensuse/xen&distro=openSUSE%20Leap%2015.6pkg:rpm/opensuse/xen&distro=openSUSE%20Tumbleweedpkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.2pkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.3pkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.4pkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Micro%205.5pkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Basesystem%2015%20SP7pkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Module%20for%20Server%20Applications%2015%20SP7pkg:rpm/suse/xen&distro=SUSE%20Linux%20Enterprise%20Server%20LTSS%20Extended%20Security%2012%20SP5
< 4.18.5_10-150600.3.37.1+ 8 more
- (no CPE)range: < 4.18.5_10-150600.3.37.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.21.0_04-1.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.14.6_28-150300.3.94.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.16.7_06-150400.4.78.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.16.7_06-150400.4.78.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.17.6_04-150500.3.59.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.20.2_04-150700.3.22.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.20.2_04-150700.3.22.1
- (no CPE)range: < 4.12.4_64-3.137.1
Patches
Vulnerability mechanics
References
1News mentions
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