NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2012-5517
Published: December 21, 2012 / Updated: August 11, 2020
Vulnerability identifier: #VU43238
CSH Severity: Medium
CVSS v4.0: CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:P/PR:N/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N/E:U/U:Green
CVE-ID: CVE-2012-5517
CWE-ID: CWE-476
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vendor: Linux Foundation
Affected software:
Linux kernel
Linux kernel
Detailed vulnerability description
The vulnerability allows a remote attacker to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.
The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference error in mm/memory_hotplug.c in the Linux kernel before 3.6 allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact in opportunistic circumstances by using memory that was hot-added by an administrator. Per: http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476. A remote attacker can perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.
How to mitigate CVE-2012-5517
Cybersecurity Help is currently unaware of any official solution to address this vulnerability.
Sources
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=08dff7b7d629807dbb1f398c68dd9cd58dd657a1
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2013-06/msg00005.html
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1580.html
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/patch-3.6.bz2
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/11/13/11
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/56527
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1671-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1673-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1677-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1678-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1679-1
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=875374
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/08dff7b7d629807dbb1f398c68dd9cd58dd657a1
- https://www.suse.com/support/update/announcement/2012/suse-su-20121679-1.html