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Fencer Intel
medium 5.8

CVE-2020-28915 json

A buffer over-read (at the framebuffer layer) in the fbcon code in the Linux kernel before 5.8.15 could be used by local attackers to read…

published 5y ago modified 4mo ago also EUVD-2020-21306

cvss
5.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 32%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

A buffer over-read (at the framebuffer layer) in the fbcon code in the Linux kernel before 5.8.15 could be used by local attackers to read kernel memory, aka CID-6735b4632def.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 5.8.15
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 5.9.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2020-28915

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-197.229
  • linux Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-126.129
  • linux Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-56.62
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1118.132
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 4.15.0-1088.93
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1030.31
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.15.0-1088.101~16.04.1
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 20.04 LTS 5.4.0-1030.32

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2020-28915

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 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • perf rhev hypervisor 4.4, RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • bpftool RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-core RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-tools RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • python3-perf RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-modules RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-zfcpdump RHEL 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6

red hat advisories RHSA-2022:5316RHSA-2022:5344

  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3-LTSS, SLES 12 SP3-BCL +4 more 4.4.180-94.138.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3-LTSS, SLES 12 SP3-BCL +4 more 4.4.180-94.138.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3-LTSS, SLES 12 SP3-BCL +5 more 4.4.180-94.138.1
  • kgraft-patch-SLE12-SP3_Update_37 SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 +3 more 1-4.3.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15-LTSS +1 more 4.12.14-150.66.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15-LTSS +1 more 4.12.14-150.66.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS, SLE Live Patching 15 +3 more 4.12.14-150.66.1
  • kernel-vanilla SLES for SAP 15, SLES 15-LTSS, SLE High Performance Computing 15-LTSS +1 more 4.12.14-150.66.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2021:14630-1SUSE-SU-2021:0452-1SUSE-SU-2021:0438-1SUSE-SU-2021:0437-1SUSE-SU-2021:0434-1SUSE-SU-2020:3798-1

  • kernel-rt openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.3.5.1
  • kernel-syms-rt openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.3.5.1
  • kernel-rt_debug openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.3.5.1
  • kernel-source-rt openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.3.5.1
  • kernel-default-base openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.57.1.lp152.8.17.1
  • kernel-syms openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.54.1
  • kernel-obs-qa openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.54.1
  • kernel-source openSUSE Leap 15.2 5.3.18-lp152.54.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2021:0242-1openSUSE-SU-2020:2260-1openSUSE-SU-2020:2161-1openSUSE-SU-2020:2034-1

  • kernel AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • perf AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • bpftool AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-core AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-tools AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • python3-perf AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-modules AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
  • kernel-debug-core AlmaLinux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6

almalinux advisories ALSA-2022:5316ALSA-2022:5344

  • kernel-rt Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6
  • kernel Rocky Linux 8 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2022:5344RLSA-2022:5316

Is CVE-2020-28915 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.

Check with Fencer

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-2020-28915 updated cvss 5.8

kernel: out-of-bounds read in fbcon_get_font function

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: workaround, no fix planned “Out of support scope”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, kernel-alt, python-perf, +9 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 “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) perf 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, kernel 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, bpftool 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, kernel-core 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, kernel-tools 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, python3-perf 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, +15 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux CRB (v. 8) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-aarch64 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5316
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux NFV (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-kvm 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, +4 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux RT (v. 8) kernel-rt 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-core 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-modules 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-debug-core 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-debug-modules 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, kernel-rt-modules-extra 4.18.0-372.13.1.rt7.170.el8_6, +2 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5344
  • Red Hat Virtualization 4 Hypervisor for RHEL 8 perf 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 4.18.0-372.13.1.el8_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2022:5316

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

0.38% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 32% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 5.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:C

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.