CVE-2017-9605 Information disclosure in n/a

What is CVE-2017-9605?

CVE-2017-9605 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 13 Jun 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The vmw_gb_surface_define_ioctl function (accessible via DRM_IOCTL_VMW_GB_SURFACE_CREATE) in drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_surface.c in the Linux kernel through 4.11.4 defines a backup_handle variable but does not give it an initial value. If one attempts to create a GB surface, with a previously allocated DMA buffer to be used as a backup buffer, the backup_handle variable does not get written to and is then later returned to user space, allowing local users to obtain sensitive information from uninitialized kernel memory via a crafted ioctl call.

Weakness: CWE-200

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-9605?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2017-9605?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2017-9605 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-9605 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-2017-9605, GHSA-547f-j6j7-jjcm, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-9605.