What is CVE-2010-4243?

CVE-2010-4243 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.9 out of 10, classified as a Uncontrolled Resource Consumption flaw (CWE-400). CVE-2010-4243 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2010-4243?

CVE-2010-4243 has a CVSS score of 4.9 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2010-4243?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2010-4243. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2010-4243 actively exploited?

CVE-2010-4243 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)?

The product does not properly control the amount of resources it consumes, leading to exhaustion. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/400.html

CVE-2010-4243

Medium

fs/exec.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.37 does not enable the OOM Killer to assess use of stack memory by arrays representing the (1) arguments and (2) environment, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) via a crafted exec system call, aka an "OOM dodging issue," a related issue to CVE-2010-3858.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2011-01-22

Last modified 2026-04-29

CVSS version 2.0

Patch available

Awaiting data

CVSS 2.0 score

4.9

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

User Interaction

Scope

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

Vector string

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Weakness type

CWE-400

CVE-2010-4243 is a Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability

What is Uncontrolled Resource Consumption?

The product does not properly control the amount of resources it consumes, leading to exhaustion. Learn more on MITRE CWE

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2010-4243 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Grsecurity
http://grsecurity.net/~spender/64bit_dos.c

Broken Link
Linux
http://linux.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/Kernel/2010-11/msg13278.html

Broken Link
Lkml
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/30/378

Mailing List Third Party Advisory
Openwall
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/11/22/15

Mailing List Third Party Advisory
Openwall
http://openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/11/22/6

Mailing List Third Party Advisory
Secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/42884

Third Party Advisory
Secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/46397

Third Party Advisory
Exploit-DB
http://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/15619

Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
Kernel.org
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.37

Broken Link
Red Hat
http://www.redhat.com/support/errata/RHSA-2011-0017.html

Third Party Advisory
Securityfocus
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/520102/100/0/threaded

Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
Securityfocus
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/45004

Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
Vmware
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2011-0012.html

Third Party Advisory
Red Hat
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=625688

Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
Exchange
https://exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/64700

VDB Entry
Kernel patch commit
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=3c77f845722158206a7209c45ccddc264d19319c
Patch
Kernel patch commit
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/27/429
Patch
Kernel patch commit
http://lkml.org/lkml/2010/8/29/206
Patch

4 patch commits total View all on NVD

Details

CVE ID CVE-2010-4243

Severity Medium

CVSS score 4.9 / 10

CVSS version 2.0

Published 2011-01-22

Modified 2026-04-29

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2010-4243?

CVE-2010-4243 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.9 out of 10 , classified as an Uncontrolled Resource Consumption flaw (CWE-400) . CVE-2010-4243 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2010-4243?

CVE-2010-4243 has a CVSS score of 4.9 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 2.0). The vector string is AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2010-4243?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2010-4243. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2010-4243 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2010-4243 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)?

The product does not properly control the amount of resources it consumes, leading to exhaustion. View CWE-400 on MITRE CWE →