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Fencer Intel
medium 4.6

CVE-2011-1020 json

The proc filesystem implementation in the Linux kernel 2.6.37 and earlier does not restrict access to the /proc directory tree of a process…

published 2011-02-28 15 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-1037

cvss
4.6
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.9%
EPSS 0.9% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 60%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

The proc filesystem implementation in the Linux kernel 2.6.37 and earlier does not restrict access to the /proc directory tree of a process after this process performs an exec of a setuid program, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information or cause a denial of service via open, lseek, read, and write system calls.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 2.6.37
  • kernel RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5
  • kernel-PAE RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5
  • kernel-xen RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5
  • kernel-debuginfo-common RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5
  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2012:0007RHSA-2012:0116RHSA-2011:1530RHSA-2011:1253

  • kernel-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 4.8.13-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10128-1

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-2011-1020 updated cvss 3.6

kernel: no access restrictions of /proc/pid/* after setuid program exec

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 kernel Red Hat Enterprise MRG 1 kernel-rt
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) kernel 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) kernel 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-274.17.1.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:0007
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1530
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 6.1) perf 2.6.32-131.25.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-131.25.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-131.25.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-131.25.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-131.25.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-131.25.1.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:0116
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1530
  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 6 Server v.2 kernel-rt 2.6.33.9-rt31.75.el6rt, kernel-rt-trace 2.6.33.9-rt31.75.el6rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 2.6.33.9-rt31.75.el6rt, kernel-rt-firmware 2.6.33.9-rt31.75.el6rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.33.9-rt31.75.el6rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1253

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. First public exploit (EDB-41770)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

0.92% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 60% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-41770 Linux Kernel 2.6.32 (Ubuntu 10.04) - '/proc' Handling SUID Privilege Escalation local, 2011-01-17
  • lkml.org https://lkml.org/lkml/2011/2/7/368 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2011/Jan/421 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • halfdog.net http://www.halfdog.net/Security/2011/SuidBinariesAndProcInterface/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.6 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

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.