CVE-2020-12656
gss_mech_free in net/sunrpc/auth_gss/gss_mech_switch.c in the rpcsec_gss_krb5 implementation in the Linux kernel through 5.6.10 lacks…
- Published
- Updated
- Reserved
- Assigned by
- mitre
Description
gss_mech_free in net/sunrpc/auth_gss/gss_mech_switch.c in the rpcsec_gss_krb5 implementation in the Linux kernel through 5.6.10 lacks certain domain_release calls, leading to a memory leak. Note: This was disputed with the assertion that the issue does not grant any access not already available. It is a problem that on unloading a specific kernel module some memory is leaked, but loading kernel modules is a privileged operation. A user could also write a kernel module to consume any amount of memory they like and load that replicating the effect of this bug
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium5.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 0.33% · top 73% of all CVEs (6 Nov 2026)
- CISA SSVC
- Exploitation: none · Automatable: no · Technical impact: partial
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 5.5.
Weakness
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References (5)
- https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=206651 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2020:0801 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- openSUSE-SU-2020:0935 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_SUSEx_transferred
- USN-4483-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_transferred
- USN-4485-1 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTUx_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
[](https://trackcve.app/cve/CVE-2020-12656)Record last updated .