CVE-2010-4243
fs/exec.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37 does not enable the OOM Killer to assess use of stack memory by arrays representing the (1)…
- 4.9MediumCVSS base score
- 0.91%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 40% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 1Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
fs/exec.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37 does not enable the OOM Killer to assess use of stack memory by arrays representing the (1) arguments and (2) environment, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a crafted exec system call, aka an "OOM dodging issue," a related issue to CVE-2010-3858.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list an Exploit-DB entry for it. A reference of the record is tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits2
Exploit-DB1 entry
- Linux Kernel 2.6.37 - 'setup_arg_pages()' Denial of Service (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 15619dos, linuxpublished 26 Nov 2010Not verified
References tagged exploit1 reference
- 15619 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
Modules, templates and exploits as listed by the Metasploit Framework (BSD-3-Clause), ProjectDiscovery's Nuclei templates (MIT) and the Exploit Database (GPLv2), read once a day. Where the data comes from
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 2 months later
· 2 months later
Published
- 14 years later
· 14 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | Medium4.9 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.91% · top 40% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.9.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
19
- [oss-security] 20101122 CVE request: kernel: mm: mem allocated invisible to oom_kill() when not attached to any threads (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- 20111013 VMSA-2011-0012 VMware ESXi and ESX updates to third party libraries and ESX Service Console (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_BUGTRAQx_transferred
- RHSA-2011:0017 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
- 46397 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.37 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=625688 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- linux-kernel-execve-dos(64700) (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_XFx_transferred
- [linux-kernel] 20100830 Re: [PATCH] exec argument expansion can inappropriately trigger OOM-killer (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- 15619 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- [linux-kernel] 20101130 [PATCH 1/2] exec: make argv/envp memory visible to oom-killer (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [oss-security] 20101122 Re: CVE request: kernel: mm: mem allocated invisible to oom_kill() when not attached to any threads (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2011-0012.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 42884 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- [linux-kernel] 20100827 [PATCH] exec argument expansion can inappropriately trigger OOM-killer (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- [linux-kernel] 20100830 Re: [PATCH] exec argument expansion can inappropriately trigger OOM-killer (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=3c77f845722158206a7209c45ccddc264d19319c (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- http://grsecurity.net/~spender/64bit_dos.c (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- [linux-kernel] 20100830 Re: [PATCH] exec argument expansion can inappropriately trigger OOM-killer (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- 45004 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2010-4216 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2010-4243)Record last updated .