CVE-2017-6951 Null dereference in n/a

What is CVE-2017-6951?

CVE-2017-6951 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Mar 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The keyring_search_aux function in security/keys/keyring.c in the Linux kernel through 3.14.79 allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and OOPS) via a request_key system call for the "dead" type.

Weakness: CWE-476

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-6951?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2017-6951?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2017-6951 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-6951 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-2017-6951, GHSA-w643-vjwg-3cfx, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-6951.