XSAs released on 2026-10-13
Key points
The Xen Project has published a new batch of Xen security advisories, XSA-514 through XSA-521. Qubes OS reports that none of them affects its security and that users do not need to do anything.
Who is affected
- No XSA in this batch is listed as affecting the security of Qubes OS.
- No user action is required for any of the eight advisories.
Why each XSA does not apply
- XSA-514: applies only to Xen 4.22 or later, while Qubes OS 4.3 ships Xen 4.19. It also concerns only Xenstore live update, which Qubes OS does not use.
- XSA-515: only systems running AMD microcode from before 2023 are affected; up-to-date systems are not.
- XSA-516: only machines with 5 TiB of RAM or more are affected, which is outside the hardware class Qubes OS targets.
- XSA-517: grant tables v2 are disabled at build time in Qubes OS.
- XSA-518: denial of service only, and confined to within a VM.
- XSA-519: ARM only, and Qubes OS does not support ARM.
- XSA-520: denial of service only.
- XSA-521: concerns tapdisk, which Qubes OS does not use.
About these notices
- Qubes OS is built on the Xen hypervisor, so it reviews each XSA when the Xen Project discloses it.
- When an XSA does affect Qubes OS, the project issues a Qubes security bulletin (QSB); QSBs are also issued for vulnerabilities unrelated to Xen.
- Because a QSB can only confirm that an XSA does affect Qubes OS, the project also maintains an XSA tracker listing every publicly disclosed XSA and whether it affects Qubes OS.
- The new XSAs are added to that tracker, and a notice like this one is published for each new batch.
Summary by DistroNews, based on the original post.
The Xen Project has released one or more Xen security advisories (XSAs). The security of Qubes OS is not affected. XSAs that DO affect the security of Qubes OS The following XSAs do affect the security of Qubes OS: (none) XSAs that DO NOT affect the security of Qubes OS The following XSAs do not affect the security of Qubes OS, and no user action is necessary: XSA-514: Affects only Xen 4.22 or higher; Qubes OS 4.3 uses Xen 4.19. Affects only Xenstore live update, which is not used in Qubes OS. XSA-515: Up-to-date systems are not affected. Only systems running outdated AMD microcode from before 2023 are affected. XSA-516: Only systems with 5 TiB of RAM or higher are affected, which is not the target hardware class for Qubes OS. XSA-517: Grant tables v2 are disabled at build time in Qubes OS. XSA-518: Denial of service only. In-VM only. XSA-519: ARM only. Qubes OS does not support ARM. XSA-520: Denial of service only. XSA-521: Tapdisk is not used in Qubes OS. About this announcement Qubes OS uses the Xen hypervisor as part of its architecture. When the Xen Project publicly discloses a vulnerability in the Xen hypervisor, they issue a notice called a Xen security advisory (XSA). Vulnerabilities in the Xen hypervisor sometimes have security implications for Qubes OS. When they do, we issue a notice called a Qubes security bulletin (QSB). (QSBs are also issued for non-Xen vulnerabilities.) However, QSBs can provide only positive confirmation that certain XSAs do affect the security of Qubes OS. QSBs cannot provide negative confirmation that other XSAs do not affect the security of Qubes OS. Therefore, we also maintain an XSA tracker, which is a comprehensive list of all XSAs publicly disclosed to date, including whether each one affects the security of Qubes OS.
This is the opening of the story. The full text is on the original page.
Read the original at qubes-os.org