CVE-2012-3375
The epoll_ctl system call in fs/eventpoll.c in the Linux kernel before 3.2.24 does not properly handle ELOOP errors in EPOLL_CTL_ADD…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- redhat
Description
The epoll_ctl system call in fs/eventpoll.c in the Linux kernel before 3.2.24 does not properly handle ELOOP errors in EPOLL_CTL_ADD operations, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (file-descriptor consumption and system crash) via a crafted application that attempts to create a circular epoll dependency. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incorrect fix for CVE-2011-1083.
Timeline
ID reserved
By redhat
- 4 months later
· 4 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 | Medium4.9 | AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 1.0% · top 36% of all CVEs (8 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.9.
Weakness
- n/a
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (9)
- https://downloads.avaya.com/css/P8/documents/100165733 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.2.24 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 1027237 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_SECTRACKx_transferred
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/13d518074a952d33d47c428419693f63389547e9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- 51164 (opens in a new tab)third-party-advisoryx_refsource_SECUNIAx_transferred
- [oss-security] 20120704 Re: CVE Request -- kernel: epoll: can leak file descriptors when returning -ELOOP (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- USN-1529-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=13d518074a952d33d47c428419693f63389547e9 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=837502 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_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)
- 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-2012-3375)Record last updated .