CVE-2015-0239 json
The em_sysenter function in arch/x86/kvm/emulate.c in the Linux kernel before 3.18.5, when the guest OS lacks SYSENTER MSR initialization,…
published 2015-03-02 11 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2015-0261
- cvss
- 4.4
- version 2.0, NVD
- cisa kev
- Not listed
- not in CISA's catalog
- epss
- 0.6%
- EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 51%
- public exploits
- 0
- none known
Summary
The em_sysenter function in arch/x86/kvm/emulate.c in the Linux kernel before 3.18.5, when the guest OS lacks SYSENTER MSR initialization, allows guest OS users to gain guest OS privileges or cause a denial of service (guest OS crash) by triggering use of a 16-bit code segment for emulation of a SYSENTER instruction.
Patch / fix
- linux linux_kernel 3.18.5
- linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.16.7-ckt4-2
debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2015-0239
- linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-46.75
- linux-lts-utopic Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.16.0-31.41~14.04.1
ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2015-0239
Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0
- kernel RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- python-perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- kernel-kdump RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- kernel-tools RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
- kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 7 3.10.0-327.el7
red hat advisories RHSA-2015:2152RHSA-2015:1272
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-2015-0239 updated cvss 6.2
kernel: kvm: insufficient sysenter emulation when invoked from 16-bit code
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-327.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-327.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.el7fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:2152
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-573.el6, +4 morefixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1272
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-327.el7, +6 morefixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:2152
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1272
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-327.el7fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:2152
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1272
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-327.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-327.el7, +1 morefixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:2152
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-573.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-573.el6fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1272
show 2 moreshow fewer
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.el7fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:2152
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Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kvm Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 kernel-rt, kernel-rt-kvm, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-debug-kvm, kernel-rt-trace-kvm Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmwarenot 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
0.64% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 51% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).
Exploits and checks
- openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/01/27/6 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
CVSS scores
| assigned by | version | score | vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVD | 2.0 | 4.4 | AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P |
Classification
- Weakness
-
- CWE-269 Improper Privilege Management
- Technology feeds
References
-
github.com
/torvalds/linux/commit/f3747379accba8e95d70cec0eae0582c8c182050
patch, third-party-advisory
-
openwall.com
/lists/oss-security/2015/01/27/6
mailing-list, exploit, third-party-advisory
-
ubuntu.com
/usn/USN-2515-1
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
debian.org
/security/2015/dsa-3170
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
ubuntu.com
/usn/USN-2514-1
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
ubuntu.com
/usn/USN-2518-1
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
mandriva.com
/security/advisories?name=MDVSA-2015:058
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
ubuntu.com
/usn/USN-2517-1
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
ubuntu.com
/usn/USN-2516-1
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
rhn.redhat.com
/errata/RHSA-2015-1272.html
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
ubuntu.com
/usn/USN-2513-1
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
-
kernel.org
/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.18.5
release-notes, vendor-advisory
-
securityfocus.com
/bid/72842
vdb-entry, third-party-advisory
-
bugzilla.redhat.com
/show_bug.cgi?id=1186448
issue-tracking, third-party-advisory
- git.kernel.org /?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=f3747379accba8e95d70cec0eae0582c8c182050
-
oracle.com
/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjan2016-2867209.html
third-party-advisory
-
oracle.com
/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinoct2015-2719645.html
third-party-advisory
-
permalink.gmane.org
/gmane.linux.kernel.commits.head/502245
mailing-list, broken-link
Sources
- CVE List CVE-2015-0239
- NVD CVE-2015-0239
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.