CVE-2009-1046 Memory corruption in n/a

What is CVE-2009-1046?

CVE-2009-1046 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 23 Mar 2009. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

The console selection feature in the Linux kernel 2.6.28 before 2.6.28.4, 2.6.25, and possibly earlier versions, when the UTF-8 console is used, allows physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) by selecting a small number of 3-byte UTF-8 characters, which triggers an "off-by-two memory error." NOTE: it is not clear whether this issue crosses privilege boundaries.

Weakness: CWE-399

Which versions are affected by CVE-2009-1046?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2009-1046?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2009-1046 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2009-1046 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as GHSA-76f5-x782-3pq8.