What is CVE-2010-2960?

CVE-2010-2960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2010-09-08.

How severe is CVE-2010-2960?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.

NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel

CVE-2010-2960

The keyctl_session_to_parent function in security/keys/keyctl.c in the Linux kernel 2.6.35.4 and earlier expects that a certain parent session keyring exists, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a KEYCTL_SESSION_TO_PARENT argument to the keyctl function.

Published 2010-09-08 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.8 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (40.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 41st percentile — 40.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel
Canonical Ubuntu Linux — versions 10.10, 6.06, 10.04
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop — versions 11
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server — versions 11

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

References

www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1000-1 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2010/09/02/1 (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/61557 (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry, vdb-entry)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/42932 (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry, vdb-entry)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2011-02/msg00000.html (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.vupen.com/english/advisories/2011/0298 (vdb-entry, Broken Link)
secunia.com/advisories/41263 (Broken Link, third-party-advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2010-10/msg00003.html (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
twitter.com/taviso/statuses/22777866582 (Third Party Advisory)
securitytracker.com/id (Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2010-2960?: CVE-2010-2960 is a high-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 7.8/10. Published 2010-09-08.
How severe is CVE-2010-2960?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.8 out of 10.