CVE-2017-12188 Memory corruption in Linux kernel

What is CVE-2017-12188?

CVE-2017-12188 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 11 Oct 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

arch/x86/kvm/mmu.c in the Linux kernel through 4.13.5, when nested virtualisation is used, does not properly traverse guest pagetable entries to resolve a guest virtual address, which allows L1 guest OS users to execute arbitrary code on the host OS or cause a denial of service (incorrect index during page walking, and host OS crash), aka an "MMU potential stack buffer overrun."

Weakness: CWE-22, CWE-121

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12188?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2017-12188?

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-2017-12188 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12188 in the wild and no public exploit code.

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 DEBIAN-CVE-2017-12188, GHSA-q7q6-h2q3-86p9, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-12188, USN-3484-2, USN-3484-3, USN-3488-1.