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medium 5.5

CVE-2017-16994 json

The walk_hugetlb_range function in mm/pagewalk.c in the Linux kernel before 4.14.2 mishandles holes in hugetlb ranges, which allows local u…

published 8y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2017-8162

cvss
5.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.1%
EPSS 2.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 81%
public exploits
3
Exploit-DB

Summary

The walk_hugetlb_range function in mm/pagewalk.c in the Linux kernel before 4.14.2 mishandles holes in hugetlb ranges, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information from uninitialized kernel memory via crafted use of the mincore() system call.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 4.14.2
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.14.2-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-16994

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-119.143
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-1016.16
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1054.63
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-1012.16
  • linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-41.46~16.04.1
  • linux-kvm Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1020.25
  • linux-oem Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-1022.24
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-1014.17

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-16994

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-alt RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • perf RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • kernel RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • python-perf RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • kernel-tools RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 7 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a

red hat advisories RHSA-2018:0502

  • kernel-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.104-24.1
  • kernel-syms-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.104-24.1
  • kernel-rt_debug SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.104-24.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.104-24.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +1 more 4.4.103-92.53.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +1 more 4.4.103-92.53.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +3 more 4.4.103-92.53.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP2 4.4.103-92.53.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:0213-1SUSE-SU-2017:3410-1SUSE-SU-2017:3398-1

Is CVE-2017-16994 in your stack? Fencer shows which of your repositories are affected as soon as an advisory lands, and opens the fix as a pull request.

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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-2017-16994 updated cvss 3.3

kernel: mm/pagewalk.c: walk_hugetlb_range function mishandles holes in hugetlb ranges causing information leak

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) perf 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel-alt 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, python-perf 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel-tools 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel-tools-libs 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, +4 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) kernel 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel-abi-whitelists 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.11.0-44.6.1.el7a
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2018:0502
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel 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, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 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

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (EDB-43178)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

2.08% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 81% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-44304 Linux Kernel - 'mincore()' Heap Page Disclosure (PoC) dos, 2017-12-11
  • EDB-44303 Linux Kernel 4.13 (Debian 9) - Local Privilege Escalation local, 2017-12-11
  • EDB-43178 Linux Kernel - 'mincore()' Uninitialized Kernel Heap Page Disclosure dos, 2017-11-24
  • bugs.chromium.org https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1431 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 5.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
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.