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Fencer Intel
low 1.9

CVE-2012-3520 json

The Netlink implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.2.30 does not properly handle messages that lack SCM_CREDENTIALS data, which might…

published 2012-10-03 14 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2012-3475

cvss
1.9
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 37%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The Netlink implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.2.30 does not properly handle messages that lack SCM_CREDENTIALS data, which might allow local users to spoof Netlink communication via a crafted message, as demonstrated by a message to (1) Avahi or (2) NetworkManager.

Patch / fix

  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.2.29-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2012-3520

  • kernel-rt enterprise mrg 2 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt
  • mrg-rt-release enterprise mrg 2 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt
  • kernel-rt-trace enterprise mrg 2 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt
  • kernel-rt-vanilla enterprise mrg 2 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt
  • kernel-rt-firmware enterprise mrg 2 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt
  • kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 enterprise mrg 2 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt

red hat advisories RHSA-2012:1491

  • 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-2012-3520 updated cvss 4.4

kernel: af_netlink: invalid handling of SCM_CREDENTIALS passing

  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 6 Server v.2 kernel-rt 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt, mrg-rt-release 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt, kernel-rt-trace 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt, kernel-rt-firmware 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.2.33-rt50.66.el6rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2012:1491
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    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

0.43% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 37% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/e0e3cea46d31d23dc40df0a49a7a2c04fe8edfea referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 1.9 AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Classification

Weakness
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.