XCP-ng 8.3 updates announcements and testing

[lmolina]

New maintenance update candidates for XCP-ng 8.3 LTS

This update is focused on security fixes.

What changed

• edk2:
  Sync with XenServer edk2-20220801-1.7.13. The update fixes vulnerabilities allowing an unauthenticated attacker on the local network to compromise a VM during PXE boot, or enable a guest VM administrator to bypass Secure Boot. See below the list of the corresponding CVEs:

  • CVE-2026-97631
  • CVE-2024-38796
  • CVE-2024-38797
  • CVE-2019-14560
  • CVE-2022-36763
  • CVE-2022-36764
  • CVE-2026-45447
  • CVE-2026-111497

Versions

• edk2: 20220801-1.7.11.2.xcpng8.3 -> 20220801-1.7.13.1.xcpng8.3

Test on XCP-ng 8.3

yum clean metadata --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing,xcp-ng-candidates
yum update --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing,xcp-ng-candidates
reboot # not mandatory but recommended for testing

The usual update rules apply: pool coordinator first, etc.

What to test

As usual, normal use and anything else you want to test.

Additionally, a cold boot (shutdown and start) of the UEFI VMs would also help testing the edk2 fix.

Test window before official release of the updates

About 4 days

We would like to thank users who shared feedback since our last call for testing: @acebmxer, @jr-m4, @bufanda, @flakpyro, @Andrew, @MajorP93, @JeffBerntsen, @manilx, @XCP-ng-JustGreat, @john205, @Greg_E.

We are aware of the frequency of these updates and strive to batch packages as much as possible. However, recent unplanned security updates require immediate attention. While drafting this message, we received another security update that we will release shortly.

[acebmxer]

@lmolina

installed updates no issues.... shutdown and cold booted windows 11 vm and a few linux vms no issues found.

Update - Applying the linux kernel update to work hosts now. The host 1 in Tilton pool took about 5 min to reconnect to xoa/xoproxy after console showed host booted. Host 2 swapped vms and started its update and rebooted. It took about 1-2 min to reconnect.

Host 1 does show more output prior to the console fully loading then compared to host 2. I did not get a picture of the output. When I can reboot host again will try to catch the output.

[Andrew]

@lmolina Update seems good. Booted all UEFI VMs normally. Booted Secure UEFI Windows 10 fine.

[XCP-ng-JustGreat]

@lmolina Latest update candidate edk2 fix applied without issue to my four host home lab pool. I tested one BitLocker encrypted Windows 11 VM with full shutdown and restart. What surprised me is that the VM booted back up fine. I was expecting that anything that changed the Tiano UEFI guest firmware might bork BitLocker unless it was suspended prior to applying the hypervisor host fix. (e.g. PowerShell Suspend-BitLocker -MountPoint "C:" -RebootCount 0 suspends BitLocker for an infinite number of guest reboots until it is explicitly resumed.) Apparently, this particular update doesn't alter any part of the guest firmware that causes a noticeable change to BitLocker. As a result, the boot volume unlocks and boots normally. Note that a firmware update on a physical machine generally is noticed by BitLocker. This is the reason the OEM's firmware installer suspends BitLocker with RebootCount 1 before performing the update's finishing reboot.

[dinhngtu]

@XCP-ng-JustGreat Windows VMs will pass the Measured Boot check even after an edk2 update if BitLocker is set up to only use Secure Boot for integrity validation (see the "Configure TPM platform validation profile for native UEFI firmware configurations" policy, PCRs 7 and 11)

[XCP-ng-JustGreat]

@dinhngtu Thank you for bringing the TPM platform validation profile to my attention. I see that there is yet another nuance to the firmware boot process I didn't fully understand. I'm going to dig into those TPM group policies to see what that's all about. (Later on . . .) Found them, here:

[vxgmichel]

New kernel version in xcp-ng-testing for the next XCP-ng 8.3 LTS security update

We're adding a new kernel version to the security update we're planning for tomorrow.

What changed

• kernel:
  • Security fixes in the Xen netback and blkback drivers, XSA-526, XSA-527 and XSA-528.
  • Synchronization with XenServer release 4.19.19-8.0.49. In this release, the XCP-ng patches for CVE-2026-98432 (possible race condition occurring during concurrent processing of re-transmitted TCP connection requests) have been removed as they are now part of the XenServer release. Also included are patches for CVE-2026-31431, a vulnerability in the Linux kernel's cryptographic interface known as "Copy Fail" that could allow unprivileged accounts to gain root privileges. As a mitigation, the authencesn module was disabled in the previous XCP-ng kernel release. It is now re-enabled. Finally, it includes patches for CVE-2021-47103, a use-after-free vulnerability in the TCP IP protocol.
  • Fixes for the following CVEs are also included:
    • CVE-2026-31659
    • CVE-2026-31678
    • CVE-2026-43502
    • CVE-2026-52912
    • CVE-2026-52923
    • CVE-2026-52924
    • CVE-2026-68376
    • CVE-2026-74480
    • CVE-2026-74957
    • CVE-2026-80714
    • CVE-2026-52929
    • CVE-2026-63834
    • CVE-2026-43042
    • CVE-2026-72255

Versions

• kernel: 4.19.19-8.0.46.14.xcpng8.3 -> 4.19.19-8.0.49.3.xcpng8.3

Test on XCP-ng 8.3

yum clean metadata --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing,xcp-ng-candidates
yum update --enablerepo=xcp-ng-testing,xcp-ng-candidates
reboot

The usual update rules apply: pool coordinator first, etc.

What to test

As usual, normal use and anything else you want to test.

Test window before official release of the updates

1 day

We would like to thank users who shared feedback since our last call for testing:
@acebmxer, @Andrew, @XCP-ng-JustGreat

[acebmxer]

@vxgmichel

installed no issues to report. Cold booted windows 11 vm and linux vm. Backup job ran also with no issues.

Running transaction
  Updating   : kernel-4.19.19-8.0.49.3.xcpng8.3.x86_64                                                                  1/2 
  Cleanup    : kernel-4.19.19-8.0.46.14.xcpng8.3.x86_64                                                                 2/2 
  Verifying  : kernel-4.19.19-8.0.49.3.xcpng8.3.x86_64                                                                  1/2 
  Verifying  : kernel-4.19.19-8.0.46.14.xcpng8.3.x86_64                                                                 2/2

[Andrew]

@vxgmichel Update installed and running. Rolling pool reboot failed waiting to evacuate an empty host, I can't blame the update.

[JeffBerntsen]

@vxgmichel Installed to my test systems and all seems to be working well so far.