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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2017-12188 json

arch/x86/kvm/mmu.c in the Linux kernel through 4.13.5, when nested virtualisation is used, does not properly traverse guest pagetable entri…

published 2017-10-11 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-3763

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 38%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

arch/x86/kvm/mmu.c in the Linux kernel through 4.13.5, when nested virtualisation is used, does not properly traverse guest pagetable entries to resolve a guest virtual address, which allows L1 guest OS users to execute arbitrary code on the host OS or cause a denial of service (incorrect index during page walking, and host OS crash), aka an "MMU potential stack buffer overrun."

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 4.9.57, 4.13.8
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.13.4-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-12188

  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.10.0-1009.9
  • linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-32.35~16.04.1
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.11.0-1015.15

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-12188

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 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • python-perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • kernel-tools RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:0395RHSA-2018:0412

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-2017-12188 updated cvss 7.6

Kernel: KVM: MMU potential stack buffer overrun during page walks

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:0395
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Realtime (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.21.1.rt56.639.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:0412
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.21.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:0395
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-tools, kernel-tools-libs, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    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

0.44% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 38% 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:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.9 AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Affected products

  • n/a Linux kernel

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-121 Stack-based Buffer Overflow
  • CWE-22 Improper Limitation of a Pathname to a Restricted Directory
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.