What is CVE-2011-4594?

CVE-2011-4594 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2012-05-17.

How severe is CVE-2011-4594?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel

CVE-2011-4594

The __sys_sendmsg function in net/socket.c in the Linux kernel before 3.1 allows local users to cause a denial of service (system crash) via crafted use of the sendmmsg system call, leading to an incorrect pointer dereference.

Published 2012-05-17 · last modified 2026-06-16.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (34.8th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 35th percentile — 34.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

References

git.kernel.org/
github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/bc909d9ddbf7778371e36a651d6e4194b1cc7d4c (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.1 (Patch, Mailing List, Vendor Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2011/12/08/4 (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2011-4594?: CVE-2011-4594 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2012-05-17.
How severe is CVE-2011-4594?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.