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Fencer Intel
medium 6.5

CVE-2017-2596 json

The nested_vmx_check_vmptr function in arch/x86/kvm/vmx.c in the Linux kernel through 4.9.8 improperly emulates the VMXON instruction, whic…

published 2017-02-06 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-11772

cvss
6.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 34%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The nested_vmx_check_vmptr function in arch/x86/kvm/vmx.c in the Linux kernel through 4.9.8 improperly emulates the VMXON instruction, which allows KVM L1 guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host OS memory consumption) by leveraging the mishandling of page references.

Patch / fix

  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.9.13-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-2596

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-79.100
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1018.27
  • linux-gke Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1014.14
  • linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.10.0-32.36~16.04.1
  • linux-raspi2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1057.64
  • linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-79.100~14.04.1
  • linux-snapdragon Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1059.63

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-2596

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-rt RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
  • kernel-rt-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
  • kernel-rt-trace RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
  • kernel-rt-debug-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
  • kernel-rt-trace-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
  • kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
  • kernel RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.el7
  • perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-693.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2017:2077RHSA-2017:1842

  • kernel-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.74-7.10.1
  • kernel-syms-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.74-7.10.1
  • kernel-rt_debug SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.74-7.10.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP2 4.4.74-7.10.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +1 more 4.4.59-92.17.2
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +1 more 4.4.59-92.17.2
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +3 more 4.4.59-92.17.3
  • kernel-obs-build SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP2 4.4.59-92.17.3

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:1990-1SUSE-SU-2017:1183-1

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-2017-2596 updated cvss 5.8

Kernel: kvm: page reference leakage in handle_vmon

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.rt56.617.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:2077
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel 3.10.0-693.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-693.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-693.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-693.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:1842
  • 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 Client (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) kernel-headers 3.10.0-693.el7
    +1 more products
    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

0.40% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 34% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 6.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.9 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-772 Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime
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.