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Fencer Intel
medium 6.9

CVE-2011-4077 json

Buffer overflow in the xfs_readlink function in fs/xfs/xfs_vnodeops.c in XFS in the Linux kernel 2.6, when CONFIG_XFS_DEBUG is disabled, al…

published 2012-01-27 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2011-4028

cvss
6.9
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 45%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Buffer overflow in the xfs_readlink function in fs/xfs/xfs_vnodeops.c in XFS in the Linux kernel 2.6, when CONFIG_XFS_DEBUG is disabled, allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and crash) and possibly execute arbitrary code via an XFS image containing a symbolic link with a long pathname.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.0.11, 3.1.5
  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • kernel-firmware RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2012:0350RHSA-2012:0007RHSA-2012:0333

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-2011-4077 updated cvss 6.2

kernel: xfs: potential buffer overflow in xfs_readlink()

  • 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 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
    +2 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.7.1.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:0350
  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 6 Server v.2 kernel-rt 3.0.18-rt34.53.el6rt, kernel-rt-trace 3.0.18-rt34.53.el6rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 3.0.18-rt34.53.el6rt, kernel-rt-firmware 3.0.18-rt34.53.el6rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.0.18-rt34.53.el6rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:0333
  • 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

0.53% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 45% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • xorl.wordpress.com http://xorl.wordpress.com/2011/12/07/cve-2011-4077-linux-kernel-xfs-readlink-memory-corruption/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 6.9 AV:L/AC:M/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.