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Fencer Intel
medium 4.0

CVE-2012-2373 json

The Linux kernel before 3.4.5 on the x86 platform, when Physical Address Extension (PAE) is enabled, does not properly use the Page Middle…

published 2012-08-09 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2012-2364

cvss
4.0
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.3%
EPSS 0.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 17%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The Linux kernel before 3.4.5 on the x86 platform, when Physical Address Extension (PAE) is enabled, does not properly use the Page Middle Directory (PMD), which allows local users to cause a denial of service (panic) via a crafted application that triggers a race condition.

Patch / fix

  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • kernel-firmware RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 RHEL 6 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2012:0743

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-2012-2373 updated cvss 4.0

kernel: mm: read_pmd_atomic: 32bit PAE pmd walk vs pmd_populate SMP race condition

  • Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
    +2 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:0743
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 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

0.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 17% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 4.0 AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-362 Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization
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.