CVE-2012-0217
The x86-64 kernel system-call functionality in Xen 4.1.2 and earlier, as used in Citrix XenServer 6.0.2 and earlier and other products;…
- 7.2HighCVSS base score
- 39.6%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 1.4% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- 4Public exploitsMetasploit, Nuclei and Exploit-DB
Description
The x86-64 kernel system-call functionality in Xen 4.1.2 and earlier, as used in Citrix XenServer 6.0.2 and earlier and other products; Oracle Solaris 11 and earlier; illumos before r13724; Joyent SmartOS before 20120614T184600Z; FreeBSD before 9.0-RELEASE-p3; NetBSD 6.0 Beta and earlier; Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 and R2 SP1 and Windows 7 Gold and SP1; and possibly other operating systems, when running on an Intel processor, incorrectly uses the sysret path in cases where a certain address is not a canonical address, which allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application. NOTE: because this issue is due to incorrect use of the Intel specification, it should have been split into separate identifiers; however, there was some value in preserving the original mapping of the multi-codebase coordinated-disclosure effort to a single identifier.
Public exploit
An exploit or proof of concept is public: anyone can try it against an unpatched system. The public collections list a Metasploit module and 3 Exploit-DB entries for it. 2 references of the record are tagged as an exploit.
Show the exploits6
Metasploit modules1 module
- FreeBSD Intel SYSRET Privilege Escalation (Metasploit module) (opens in a new tab)
exploit/freebsd/local/intel_sysret_priv_escRank greatdisclosed 12 Jun 2012
Exploit-DB3 entries
- FreeBSD - Intel SYSRET Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 46508local, freebsd_x86-64published 7 Mar 2019Verified
- FreeBSD 9.0 - Intel SYSRET Kernel Privilege Escalation (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 28718local, freebsdpublished 4 Oct 2013Verified
- Microsoft Windows Kernel - Intel x64 SYSRET (MS12-042) (Exploit-DB entry) (opens in a new tab)
EDB-ID 20861local, windows_x86-64published 27 Aug 2012Verified
References tagged exploit2 references
- 28718 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- 46508 (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 debian
- 6 months later
· 6 months later
Published
- 12 years later
· 12 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 | High7.2 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 39.6% · top 1.4% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: High 7.2.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
23
- 55082 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- TA12-164A (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERTx_transferred
- http://blog.xen.org/index.php/2012/06/13/the-intel-sysret-privilege-escalation/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- MS12-042 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MSx_transferred
- 28718 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=813428 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- NetBSD-SA2012-003 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_NETBSDx_transferred
- GLSA-201309-24 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_GENTOOx_transferred
- oval:org.mitre.oval:def:15596 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entrysignaturex_refsource_OVALx_transferred
- DSA-2501 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- http://blog.illumos.org/2012/06/14/illumos-vulnerability-patched/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://www.illumos.org/issues/2873 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- [xen-devel] 20120619 Security vulnerability process, and CVE-2012-0217 (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- DSA-2508 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- [xen-announce] 20120612 Xen Security Advisory 7 (CVE-2012-0217) - PV privilege escalation (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpuoct2012-1515893.html (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX133161 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 46508 (opens in a new tab)exploitx_refsource_EXPLOIT-DBx_transferred
- http://smartos.org/2012/06/15/smartos-news-3/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- http://wiki.smartos.org/display/DOC/SmartOS+Change+Log#SmartOSChangeLog-June14%2C2012 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- VU#649219 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_CERT-VNx_transferred
- MDVSA-2013:150 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_MANDRIVAx_transferred
- FreeBSD-SA-12:04 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_FREEBSDx_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-2012-0253 (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-2012-0217)Record last updated .