What is CVE-2012-2121?

CVE-2012-2121 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.9 out of 10, classified as a Permissions, Privileges and Access Control flaw (CWE-264). CVE-2012-2121 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2012-2121?

CVE-2012-2121 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-2012-2121?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2012-2121. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2012-2121 actively exploited?

CVE-2012-2121 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Permissions, Privileges and Access Control (CWE-264)?

Weaknesses in this category are related to the management of permissions, privileges, and access controls. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/264.html

CVE-2012-2121

Medium

The KVM implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.3.4 does not properly manage the relationships between memory slots and the iommu, which allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (memory leak and host OS crash) by leveraging administrative access to the guest OS to conduct hotunplug and hotplug operations on devices.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2012-05-17

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-264

CVE-2012-2121 is a Permissions, Privileges and Access Control vulnerability

What is Permissions, Privileges and Access Control?

Weaknesses in this category are related to the management of permissions, privileges, and access controls. Learn more on MITRE CWE

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2012-2121 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Red Hat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0676.html
Red Hat
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0743.html
Secunia
http://secunia.com/advisories/50732
Kernel.org
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.3.4
Openwall
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/04/19/16
Securitytracker
http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1027083
Ubuntu Security
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1577-1
Ubuntu Security
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2036-1
Ubuntu Security
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2037-1
Red Hat
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=814149
Kernel patch commit
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/09ca8e1173bcb12e2a449698c9ae3b86a8a10195
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2012-2121

Severity Medium

CVSS score 4.9 / 10

CVSS version 2.0

Published 2012-05-17

Modified 2026-04-29

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2012-2121?

CVE-2012-2121 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.9 out of 10 , classified as a Permissions, Privileges and Access Control flaw (CWE-264) . CVE-2012-2121 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2012-2121?

CVE-2012-2121 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-2012-2121?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2012-2121. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2012-2121 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2012-2121 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is Permissions, Privileges and Access Control (CWE-264)?

Weaknesses in this category are related to the management of permissions, privileges, and access controls. View CWE-264 on MITRE CWE →