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Fencer Intel
low 1.9

CVE-2010-4073 json

The ipc subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37-rc1 does not initialize certain structures, which allows local users to obtain potentia…

published 2010-11-29 15 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2010-4049

cvss
1.9
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.5%
EPSS 1.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 74%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

The ipc subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37-rc1 does not initialize certain structures, which allows local users to obtain potentially sensitive information from kernel stack memory via vectors related to the (1) compat_sys_semctl, (2) compat_sys_msgctl, and (3) compat_sys_shmctl functions in ipc/compat.c; and the (4) compat_sys_mq_open and (5) compat_sys_mq_getsetattr functions in ipc/compat_mq.c.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 2.6.37
  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • kernel-firmware RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x RHEL 6 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2011:0007RHSA-2011:0162RHSA-2011:0017RHSA-2010:0958

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-2010-4073 updated cvss 1.9

kernel: ipc/compat*.c: reading uninitialized stack memory

  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 5 Server perf 2.6.33.7-rt29.47.el5rt, kernel-rt 2.6.33.7-rt29.47.el5rt, kernel-rt-trace 2.6.33.7-rt29.47.el5rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 2.6.33.7-rt29.47.el5rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common 2.6.33.7-rt29.47.el5rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2010:0958
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) kernel 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-238.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0017
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0162
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) kernel 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-238.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-238.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0017
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0007
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0162
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-71.14.1.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0007
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux WS version 4 kernel 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-smp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-xenU 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-hugemem 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL, kernel-largesmp 2.6.9-89.35.1.EL
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:0162

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

Timeline

  1. Published
  2. First public exploit (EDB-17787)

Exploit prediction

1.48% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 74% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-17787 Linux Kernel < 2.6.36.2 (Ubuntu 10.04) - 'Half-Nelson.c' Econet Privilege Escalation local, 2011-09-05
  • securityreason.com http://securityreason.com/securityalert/8366 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 1.9 AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Intel 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.