CVE-2012-0217 Privilege escalation in n/a

High 7.2 Published 12 Jun 2012 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Local attackers can gain privileges via a crafted application exploiting incorrect sysret path handling in the kernel on Intel processors.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Any signed-in user
Attackable: Local or same network only
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2012-0217?

CVE-2012-0217 is a high-severity vulnerability in Citrix Xenserver, published on 12 Jun 2012. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official 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.

Weakness: CWE-119

Which versions are affected by CVE-2012-0217?

It affects 11 products.

Products include Citrix Xenserver, Freebsd Freebsd, Illumos Illumos, Joyent Smartos, Microsoft Windows 7, Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 5 more.

How do I fix CVE-2012-0217?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2012-0217 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2012-0217 exists.

Public exploit code: 1 Metasploit module and 4 Exploit-DB entries.

All Citrix Xenserver vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2012-0217, DSA-2508-1, GHSA-q644-363q-jfmm.