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Fencer Vulns
medium 5.5

CVE-2021-38200 json

arch/powerpc/perf/core-book3s.c in the Linux kernel before 5.12.13, on systems with perf_event_paranoid=-1 and no specific PMU driver suppo…

published 2021-08-08 5 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2021-24658

cvss
5.5
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 17%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

arch/powerpc/perf/core-book3s.c in the Linux kernel before 5.12.13, on systems with perf_event_paranoid=-1 and no specific PMU driver support registered, allows local users to cause a denial of service (perf_instruction_pointer NULL pointer dereference and OOPS) via a "perf record" command.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 5.12.13
  • linux-aws-5.11 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.11.0-1017.18~20.04.1
  • linux-gcp-5.11 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.11.0-1018.20~20.04.2
  • linux-hwe-5.11 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.11.0-34.36~20.04.1
  • linux-azure-5.11 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.11.0-1015.16~20.04.1
  • linux-riscv-5.11 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.11.0-1018.19~20.04.2
  • linux-oracle-5.11 Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.11.0-1017.18~20.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2021-38200

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 CBL-Mariner 2.0 5.10.78.1-1

azure linux advisories AZL-6584

Azure Linux vulnerability data, Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation, from https://github.com/microsoft/AzureLinuxVulnerabilityData via OSV, under the MIT licence; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. MIT

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-2021-38200 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: arch/powerpc/perf/core-book3s.c allows local users to cause a DoS via a perf record command

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, kernel-alt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-tools, +3 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-core, kernel-tools, +29 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 rv, perf, rtla, kernel, bpftool, libperf, +82 more
    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

0.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 17% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness
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.