RE: [Xen-users] Xen Security

[Simon Hobson <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jonathan Tripathy wrote:

>  >One is simply to subvert the communications between the guest and the
>  >host - things like buffer overflows, code injection, etc
> You say "simply", however isn't it actually quite difficult to do 
> the things you mentioned? Reading on the CVE lists, there doesn't 
> seem to be any current known possible exploits?
I've no idea how hard or otherwise such things are to do, I didn't 
mean to imply it's simple to do, but I'd imagine it's a relatively 
simple attack vector to use.
OK, it's a different scale of things to SQL Injection where you've a 
website passing user-supplied data to a backend database (via the 
website scripting), but you've still got an open communications 
channel where the guest OS can exchange messages with the host (OS 
and/or Xen). Find a bug in the handling of those messages and you've 
an open attack vector.
Having an open communications channel is half of the battle - without 
it you need to crack two things, find a flaw in the system AND find a 
way of getting in to exploit it.
--
Simon Hobson

Visit http://www.magpiesnestpublishing.co.uk/ for books by acclaimed
author Gladys Hobson. Novels - poetry - short stories - ideal as
Christmas stocking fillers. Some available as e-books.

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