CVE-2017-6001

Severity: high (CVSS 7.0 v3.1)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 1.7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2017-02-18 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-362

Description

Race condition in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 4.9.7 allows local users to gain privileges via a crafted application that makes concurrent perf_event_open system calls for moving a software group into a hardware context. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2016-6786.

Affected products

Linux kernel: from 3.18.54 before 3.18.92; from 4.0 before 4.4.65; from 4.5 before 4.9.7 — fixed in 3.18.92, 4.4.65, 4.9.7

How to fix

Upgrade to a fixed version: Linux kernel 3.18.92, 4.4.65, 4.9.7. Check the vendor advisory for mitigations.

References

http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=321027c1fe77f892f4ea07846aeae08cefbbb290
http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3791
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.9.7
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/16/1
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96264
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1842
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2077
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2669
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:1854
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1422825
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/321027c1fe77f892f4ea07846aeae08cefbbb290
https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/pixel/2017-11-01

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