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CVE-2011-4080
The sysrq_sysctl_handler function in kernel/sysctl.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39 does not require the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability to…
Medium4.0EPSS 0.35%
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- redhat
Description
The sysrq_sysctl_handler function in kernel/sysctl.c in the Linux kernel before 2.6.39 does not require the CAP_SYS_ADMIN capability to modify the dmesg_restrict value, which allows local users to bypass intended access restrictions and read the kernel ring buffer by leveraging root privileges, as demonstrated by a root user in a Linux Containers (aka LXC) environment.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 2.0 | Medium4.0 | AV:L/AC:H/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.35% · top 71% of all CVEs (2 Nov 2026)
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The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 4.0.
Weakness
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (4)
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/bfdc0b497faa82a0ba2f9dddcf109231dd519fcc (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_CONFIRMx_transferred
- [oss-security] 20111026 Re: CVE Request -- kernel: sysctl: restrict write access to dmesg_restrict (opens in a new tab)mailing-listx_refsource_MLISTx_transferred
- http://ftp.osuosl.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/ChangeLog-2.6.39 (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=bfdc0b497faa82a0ba2f9dddcf109231dd519fcc (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)
Record last updated .