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medium 6.1

CVE-2015-5156 json

The virtnet_probe function in drivers/net/virtio_net.c in the Linux kernel before 4.2 attempts to support a FRAGLIST feature without proper…

published 11y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2015-5167

cvss
6.1
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
0
none known

Summary

The virtnet_probe function in drivers/net/virtio_net.c in the Linux kernel before 4.2 attempts to support a FRAGLIST feature without proper memory allocation, which allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (buffer overflow and memory corruption) via a crafted sequence of fragmented packets.

Patch / fix

  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.1.5-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2015-5156

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-66.108
  • linux-lts-vivid Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.19.0-31.36~14.04.1
  • linux-lts-utopic Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.16.0-51.69~14.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2015-5156

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 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • python-perf RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • kernel-firmware RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6
  • kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 RHEL 6 2.6.32-642.el6

red hat advisories RHSA-2016:0855RHSA-2015:1977RHSA-2015:1978

  • kernel-rt SLE Real Time 11 SP4 3.0.101.rt130-69.24.1
  • kernel-syms-rt SLE Real Time 11 SP4 3.0.101.rt130-69.24.1
  • kernel-rt_trace SLE Real Time 11 SP4 3.0.101.rt130-69.24.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Real Time 11 SP4 3.0.101.rt130-69.24.1
  • kernel-ec2 SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3 3.0.101-0.47.106.22.1
  • kernel-pae SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3 3.0.101-0.47.106.22.1
  • kernel-xen SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3 3.0.101-0.47.106.22.1
  • kernel-syms SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3 3.0.101-0.47.106.22.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:1309-1SUSE-SU-2018:1172-1SUSE-SU-2018:1080-1SUSE-SU-2015:2292-1SUSE-SU-2015:1727-1

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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-2015-5156 updated cvss 6.8

kernel: buffer overflow with fraglist larger than MAX_SKB_FRAGS + 2 in virtio-net

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1978
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:0855
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Realtime (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-229.20.1.rt56.141.14.el7_1, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-229.20.1.rt56.141.14.el7_1, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.rt56.141.14.el7_1
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1977
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-kdump 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-bootwrapper 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-642.el6, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:0855
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.ael7b, kernel 3.10.0-229.20.1.ael7b, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, +11 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1978
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:0855
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.ael7b, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-s390x 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-229.20.1.ael7b
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1978
show 5 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-firmware 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-abi-whitelists 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:0855
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1978
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) python-perf 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 2.6.32-642.el6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 2.6.32-642.el6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:0855
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) python-perf 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-229.20.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2015:1978
  • 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

1.03% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 63% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 2.0 6.1 AV:A/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
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.