Recent security research shows that soundcards support surreptitiously
switching line-out jacks into line-in by modifying the software stack.
The way modern speakers and headphones are designed makes them readily
usable as microphones. The Intel High Definition (HD) Audio standards
which all modern consumer soundcards are based mandates this.

https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1611/1611.07350.pdf

Does anyone know if XEN's emulated sound devices follow this standard?
If yes then a malicious guest that can modify the virt sound hardware
can turn PC speakers into surveillance devices even if the microphone is
disabled on the host.

Asked on xen list:
https://lists.xen.org/archives/html/xen-users/2016-12/msg00008.html

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