Bug 2433927 (CVE-2026-23553)

Summary: CVE-2026-23553 xen: x86: incomplete IBPB for vCPU isolation
Product: [Other] Security Response Reporter: OSIDB Bzimport <bzimport>
Component: vulnerabilityAssignee: Product Security DevOps Team <prodsec-dev>
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Version: unspecifiedKeywords: Security
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OS: Linux   
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Bug Depends On: 2434047, 2434048    
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Description OSIDB Bzimport 2026-01-28 16:01:46 UTC 
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.