CVE-2020-10768 Security feature bypass in kernel

What is CVE-2020-10768?

CVE-2020-10768 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 15 Sep 2020. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

A flaw was found in the Linux Kernel before 5.8-rc1 in the prctl() function, where it can be used to enable indirect branch speculation after it has been disabled. This call incorrectly reports it as being 'force disabled' when it is not and opens the system to Spectre v2 attacks. The highest threat from this vulnerability is to confidentiality.

Weakness: CWE-440

Which versions are affected by CVE-2020-10768?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2020-10768?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Is CVE-2020-10768 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2020-10768 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 A-169505929, ASB-A-169505929, DEBIAN-CVE-2020-10768, GHSA-5hg9-992p-865c, UBUNTU-CVE-2020-10768.