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Fencer Intel
medium 4.7

CVE-2012-0045 json

The em_syscall function in arch/x86/kvm/emulate.c in the KVM implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.2.14 does not properly handle the…

published 2012-07-03 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2012-0085

cvss
4.7
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.0%
EPSS 1.0% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 63%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

The em_syscall function in arch/x86/kvm/emulate.c in the KVM implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.2.14 does not properly handle the 0f05 (aka syscall) opcode, which allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) via a crafted application, as demonstrated by an NASM file.

Patch / fix

  • 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-2012:0422

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-2012-0045 updated cvss 4.0

kernel: kvm: syscall instruction induced guest panic

  • 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 RHEV Hypervisor for RHEL-6 rhev-hypervisor6 6.2-20120320.0.el6_2, rhev-hypervisor6-tools 6.2-20120320.0.el6_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:0422
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kvm, kernel 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

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-36545)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

1.01% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 63% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-36545 Linux Kernel 3.1.8 - KVM Local Denial of Service dos, 2011-12-29
  • github.com https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/c2226fc9e87ba3da060e47333657cd6616652b84 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • bugzilla.redhat.com https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=773370 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/01/12/2 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.7 AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

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.