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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2017-7889 json

The mm subsystem in the Linux kernel through 3.2 does not properly enforce the CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM protection mechanism, which allows loca…

published 2017-04-17 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-16861

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 25%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The mm subsystem in the Linux kernel through 3.2 does not properly enforce the CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM protection mechanism, which allows local users to read or write to kernel memory locations in the first megabyte (and bypass slab-allocation access restrictions) via an application that opens the /dev/mem file, related to arch/x86/mm/init.c and drivers/char/mem.c.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.2.91, 3.10.107, 3.12.74, 3.16.46, 3.18.50, 4.1.41, 4.4.63, 4.9.24, 4.10.12
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.9.25-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-7889

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-142.191
  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-79.100
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1018.27
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1014.14
  • linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.10.0-32.36~16.04.1
  • linux-raspi2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1057.64
  • linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-79.100~14.04.1
  • linux-snapdragon Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1059.63

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-7889

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • kernel-firmware RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:1854RHSA-2017:2669RHSA-2017:2077RHSA-2017:1842

  • kernel-ec2 SLE Module for Public Cloud 12 3.12.61-52.101.1
  • kernel-ec2 SLE Module for Public Cloud 12 3.12.74-60.64.63.1
  • kernel-xen SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 6 3.12.74-60.64.63.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 6 3.12.74-60.64.63.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 6 3.12.74-60.64.63.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 6 3.12.74-60.64.63.1
  • kgraft-patch-SLE12-SP1_Update_22 SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 6 1-2.1
  • kernel-xen SLES 12-LTSS 3.12.61-52.101.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:2920-1SUSE-SU-2017:2908-1

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2017-7889 updated cvss 7.8

kernel: mm subsystem does not properly enforce the CONFIG_STRICT_DEVMEM protection mechanism

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1854
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:2077
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.el6, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1854
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, +6 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1854
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-693.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
show 6 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1854
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.el7, +1 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:1854
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 6 Server v.2 kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.2.1.rt56.585.el6rt, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.2.1.rt56.585.el6rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 3.10.0-693.2.1.rt56.585.el6rt, kernel-rt-firmware 3.10.0-693.2.1.rt56.585.el6rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.2.1.rt56.585.el6rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:2669
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

0.32% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 25% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-732 Incorrect Permission Assignment for Critical Resource
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.