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Fencer Intel
medium 6.0

CVE-2020-11565 json

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 5.6.2.

published 6y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-3916

cvss
6.0
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.5%
EPSS 0.5% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 44%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

An issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 5.6.2. mpol_parse_str in mm/mempolicy.c has a stack-based out-of-bounds write because an empty nodelist is mishandled during mount option parsing, aka CID-aa9f7d5172fa. NOTE: Someone in the security community disagrees that this is a vulnerability because the issue “is a bug in parsing mount options which can only be specified by a privileged user, so triggering the bug does not grant any powers not already held.”

Patch / fix

  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.5.17-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2020-11565

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-179.209
  • linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-101.102
  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-31.35
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1107.118
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1067.71
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1011.11
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-1071.81~16.04.1
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1011.11

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2020-11565

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 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • perf RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • kernel RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • python-perf RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • kernel-tools RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 7 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:2854RHSA-2020:4431RHSA-2020:4060RHSA-2020:4609RHSA-2020:4062

Is CVE-2020-11565 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-2020-11565 updated cvss 6.0

kernel: out-of-bounds write in mpol_parse_str function in mm/mempolicy.c

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat CodeReady Linux Builder (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-240.el8, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-240.el8, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-240.el8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-240.el8, kernel 4.18.0-240.el8, bpftool 4.18.0-240.el8, kernel-core 4.18.0-240.el8, kernel-tools 4.18.0-240.el8, python3-perf 4.18.0-240.el8, +15 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:4431
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1160.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1160.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1160.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1160.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1160.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1160.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1160.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1160.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:4060
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) perf 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a, kernel 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a, kernel-alt 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a, python-perf 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a, kernel-tools 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a, kernel-tools-libs 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a, +3 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2854
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1160.rt56.1131.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:4062
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-debug-modules 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-modules-extra 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Real Time for NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-kvm 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-240.rt7.54.el8, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:4609
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1160.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1160.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1160.el7, +7 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-1160.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel 3.10.0-1160.el7, bpftool 3.10.0-1160.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-1160.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-1160.el7, +2 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-1160.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:4060
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) kernel-headers 4.14.0-115.26.1.el7a
    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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
partial
Assessed
2y ago

Exploit prediction

0.52% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 44% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 6.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 3.6 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
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.