Description
Buffer overflow in the macvtap device driver in the Linux kernel before 3.4.5, when running in certain configurations, allows privileged KVM guest users to cause a denial of service (crash) via a long descriptor with a long vector length.
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | linux | 3.2.20-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | linux | 3.2.20-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | linux | 3.2.20-1 | — |
Red Hat
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| RHEL 6 | perf +15 | 2.6.32-220.23.1.el6 | RHSA-2012:0743 |
Advisories 1
- RHSA-2012:0743 Red Hat Security Advisory: kernel security and bug fix update Red Hat Security Advisories (RHSA) · Jun 28, 2026
References
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.4.5
- RHSA-2012:0743 vendor-advisory
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/b92946e2919134ebe2a4083e4302236295ea2a73
- http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=b92946e2919134ebe2a4083e4302236295ea2a73
- http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=814278
- [linux-netdev] 20120416 [PATCH 3/6] macvtap: zerocopy: validate vector length before pinning user pages mailing-list
- USN-1529-1 vendor-advisory
- openSUSE-SU-2013:0925 vendor-advisory
- https://oss.oracle.com/git/?p=redpatch.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=4aae94d1c7b32316911c86176c0ed4f8ed62da73
- [oss-security] 20120419 Re: CVE request -- kernel: macvtap: zerocopy: vector length is not validated before pinning user pages mailing-list