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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2012-6638 json

The tcp_rcv_state_process function in net/ipv4/tcp_input.c in the Linux kernel before 3.2.24 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of s…

published 2014-02-15 12 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2012-6484

cvss
7.8
version 2.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
3.3%
EPSS 3.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 88%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The tcp_rcv_state_process function in net/ipv4/tcp_input.c in the Linux kernel before 3.2.24 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (kernel resource consumption) via a flood of SYN+FIN TCP packets, a different vulnerability than CVE-2012-2663.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.0.38, 3.2.24
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.2.29-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2012-6638

  • kernel RHEL 5 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
  • kernel-PAE RHEL 5 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
  • kernel-xen RHEL 5 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 5 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
  • kernel-debuginfo-common RHEL 5 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
  • kernel RHEL 5.9 EUS 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5
  • kernel-PAE RHEL 5.9 EUS 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5
  • kernel-xen RHEL 5.9 EUS 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5

red hat advisories RHSA-2014:0772RHSA-2014:0433

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-2012-6638 updated cvss 6.4

Kernel: net: tcp: potential DoS via SYN+FIN messages

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (v. 5 server) kernel 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 5 client) kernel 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:0433
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux EUS (v. 5.9 server) kernel 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5, kernel-PAE 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5, kernel-xen 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5, kernel-kdump 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5, kernel-debuginfo-common 2.6.18-348.27.1.el5
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2014:0772
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-tools, +3 more 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

Exploit prediction

3.34% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 88% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 7.8 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-400 Uncontrolled Resource Consumption
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.