The x86_assign_hw_event function in arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event.c in the Performance Events subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39…

Description

The x86_assign_hw_event function in arch/x86/kernel/cpu/perf_event.c in the Performance Events subsystem in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39 does not properly calculate counter values, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (panic) via the perf program.

Scores

EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)

0.39% · top 66% of all CVEs (4 Nov 2026)

The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.9.

Weakness

• n/a
• CWE-189 (opens in a new tab)All about CWE-189 and its CVEs

Affected products

• n/a

  • affected n/a

References (5)

• https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/fc66c5210ec2539e800e87d7b3a985323c7be96e (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
• http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=fc66c5210ec2539e800e87d7b3a985323c7be96e (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
• http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.39 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
• [oss-security] 20110706 Re: CVE request: kernel: perf, x86: fix Intel fixed counters base initialization (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
• https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=719228 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred

Sources

The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.

• CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
• CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
• NVD (opens in a new tab)
• FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
• OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
• GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
• CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)

Badge for a README or a ticket

[![CVE-2011-2521](https://trackcve.app/badge/CVE-2011-2521.svg)](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2011-2521)

Record last updated 6 Aug 2024, 23:00 UTC.