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Fencer Vulns
low 2.1

CVE-2004-0427 json

The do_fork function in Linux 2.4.x before 2.4.26, and 2.6.x before 2.6.6, does not properly decrement the mm_count counter when an error o…

published 2004-04-30 22 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2004-0426

cvss
2.1
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 40%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The do_fork function in Linux 2.4.x before 2.4.26, and 2.6.x before 2.6.6, does not properly decrement the mm_count counter when an error occurs after the mm_struct for a child process has been activated, which triggers a memory leak that allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory exhaustion) via the clone (CLONE_VM) system call.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 2.4.26, 2.6.6
  • kernel RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-smp RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-BOOT RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-source RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-hugemem RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-unsupported RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-smp-unsupported RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL
  • kernel-hugemem-unsupported RHEL 3 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL

red hat advisories RHSA-2004:255

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-2004-0427 updated

security flaw

  • Red Hat Desktop version 3 kernel 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 3 kernel 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 3 kernel 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 3 kernel 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-smp 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-BOOT 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-source 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, kernel-unsupported 2.4.21-15.0.2.EL, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2004:255
  • Red Hat Linux Advanced Workstation 2.1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2004:327

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

0.47% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 40% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-401 Missing Release of Memory after Effective Lifetime
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.