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Fencer Intel
high 7.2

CVE-2011-2517 json

Multiple buffer overflows in net/wireless/nl80211.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39.2 allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging…

published 2012-05-24 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-2502

cvss
7.2
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 31%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Multiple buffer overflows in net/wireless/nl80211.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39.2 allow local users to gain privileges by leveraging the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability during scan operations with a long SSID value.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 2.6.39.2
  • kernel RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5
  • kernel-PAE RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5
  • kernel-xen RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5
  • kernel-debuginfo-common RHEL 5 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5
  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2011:1813RHSA-2011:1212RHSA-2011:1189RHSA-2011:1253

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-2011-2517 updated cvss 6.6

kernel: nl80211: missing check for valid SSID size in scan operations

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) kernel 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) kernel 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-274.3.1.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1212
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS (v. 5.6 server) kernel 2.6.18-238.31.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-238.31.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-238.31.1.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-238.31.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-238.31.1.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1813
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-131.12.1.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2011:1189
  • 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 Enterprise Linux 4 kernel
    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

0.38% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 31% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
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.