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Fencer Intel
medium 6.9

CVE-2013-2852 json

Format string vulnerability in the b43_request_firmware function in drivers/net/wireless/b43/main.c in the Broadcom B43 wireless driver in…

published 2013-06-07 13 y ago modified 2026-06-16 4 mo ago also EUVD-2013-2791

cvss
6.9
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

Format string vulnerability in the b43_request_firmware function in drivers/net/wireless/b43/main.c in the Broadcom B43 wireless driver in the Linux kernel through 3.9.4 allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging root access and including format string specifiers in an fwpostfix modprobe parameter, leading to improper construction of an error message.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.0.83, 3.2.47, 3.4.50, 3.9.7
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.9.8-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2013-2852

  • kernel openstack 3 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6
  • perf openstack 3 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6
  • python-perf openstack 3 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6
  • kernel-firmware openstack 3 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 openstack 3 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6
  • kernel RHEL 6 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2013:1450RHSA-2013:1080RHSA-2013:1051RHSA-2013:1264

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-2013-2852 updated cvss 6.0

kernel: b43: format string leaking into error msgs

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Compute Node EUS (v. 6.3) perf 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Compute Node Optional EUS (v. 6.3) kernel 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1450
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1051
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux OpenStack Platform 3.0 perf 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6, kernel 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.114.1.openstack.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1080
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1051
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 6.3) perf 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, +3 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1450
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1051
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 6.3) kernel 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-279.37.2.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1450
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) kernel 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, python-perf 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-358.14.1.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1051
show 2 more
  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 6 Server v.2 kernel-rt 3.6.11.5-rt37.55.el6rt, mrg-rt-release 3.6.11.5-rt37.55.el6rt, kernel-rt-trace 3.6.11.5-rt37.55.el6rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 3.6.11.5-rt37.55.el6rt, kernel-rt-firmware 3.6.11.5-rt37.55.el6rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.6.11.5-rt37.55.el6rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2013:1264
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-tools, +3 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

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-38559)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

1.02% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 63% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-38559 Linux Kernel 3.3.5 - 'b43' Wireless Driver Privilege Escalation local, 2013-06-07

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-134 Use of Externally-Controlled Format String
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.