What is CVE-2010-4251?

CVE-2010-4251 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, classified as a Uncontrolled Resource Consumption flaw (CWE-400). CVE-2010-4251 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2010-4251?

CVE-2010-4251 has a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, rated High severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2010-4251?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2010-4251. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2010-4251 actively exploited?

CVE-2010-4251 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-2010-4251

High

The socket implementation in net/core/sock.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.34 does not properly manage a backlog of received packets, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by sending a large amount of network traffic, as demonstrated by netperf UDP tests.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2011-05-26

Last modified 2026-04-29

CVSS version 3.1

Patch available

Awaiting data

CVSS 3.1 score

7.5

out of 10

High

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-400

CVE-2010-4251 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-2010-4251 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Kerneltrap
http://kerneltrap.org/mailarchive/linux-netdev/2010/3/3/6271093/thread

Broken Link
Secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/46397

Broken Link
Kernel.org
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.34

Broken Link
Securityfocus
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/520102/100/0/threaded

Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
Securityfocus
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/46637

Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
Kernel patch commit
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=8eae939f1400326b06d0c9afe53d2a484a326871
Patch
Kernel patch commit
http://www.vmware.com/security/advisories/VMSA-2011-0012.html
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=657303
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2010-4251

Severity High

CVSS score 7.5 / 10

CVSS version 3.1

Published 2011-05-26

Modified 2026-04-29

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2010-4251?

CVE-2010-4251 is a High severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10 , classified as an Uncontrolled Resource Consumption flaw (CWE-400) . CVE-2010-4251 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2010-4251?

CVE-2010-4251 has a CVSS score of 7.5 out of 10, rated High severity (CVSS 3.1). The vector string is CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2010-4251?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2010-4251. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2010-4251 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2010-4251 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 →