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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2018-10901 json

A flaw was found in Linux kernel's KVM virtualization subsystem.

published 2018-07-26 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-2958

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 44%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A flaw was found in Linux kernel's KVM virtualization subsystem. The VMX code does not restore the GDT.LIMIT to the previous host value, but instead sets it to 64KB. With a corrupted GDT limit a host's userspace code has an ability to place malicious entries in the GDT, particularly to the per-cpu variables. An attacker can use this to escalate their privileges.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 2.6.36
  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • kernel-firmware RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 RHEL 6 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:2394RHSA-2018:2393RHSA-2018:2392RHSA-2018:2391RHSA-2018:2390

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-2018-10901 updated cvss 7.8

kernel: kvm: vmx: host GDT limit corruption

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node EUS (v. 6.7) perf 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2391
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional EUS (v. 6.7) python-perf 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2391
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server AUS (v. 6.4) perf 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6, kernel 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2394
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server AUS (v. 6.5) perf 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6, kernel 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2393
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server AUS (v. 6.6) perf 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2392
show 9 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 6.7) perf 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2391
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional AUS (v. 6.4) kernel 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.91.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2394
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional AUS (v. 6.5) kernel 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-431.91.3.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2393
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional AUS (v. 6.6) python-perf 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2392
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 6.7) python-perf 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.60.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2391
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional TUS (v. 6.6) python-perf 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server TUS (v. 6.6) perf 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-504.72.4.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2392
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-754.3.5.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:2390
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-alt, python-perf, +9 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-core, kernel-tools, python3-perf, +17 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

0.52% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 44% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CNA 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
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

Affected products

  • [UNKNOWN] kernel:

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.