What is CVE-2015-3217?

CVE-2015-3217 is a high-severity vulnerability in IBM Powerkvm, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2016-12-13.

How severe is CVE-2015-3217?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Is CVE-2015-3217 known to be exploited?

2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Buffer overflow in IBM Powerkvm

CVE-2015-3217

PCRE 7.8 and 8.32 through 8.37, and PCRE2 10.10 mishandle group empty matches, which might allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack-based buffer overflow) via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by /^(?:(?(1)\\.|([^\\\\W_])?)+)+$/.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-12-13 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.062 (93.4th percentile), scored 2026-10-26.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 93rd percentile — 93.4% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.062 · newest: 0.062 · change: 0.000

Affected products

IBM Powerkvm — versions 2.1, 3.1
Pcre — versions 7.8, 8.32, 8.33
Pcre Pcre2 — versions 10.10

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1132 (vendor-advisory)
vcs.pcre.org/pcre (Patch)
bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi (Exploit, Issue Tracking, Vendor Advisory)
www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2015/06/03/7 (mailing-list, Mailing List)
www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss (Third Party Advisory)
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1025.html (vendor-advisory)
rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2750.html (vendor-advisory)
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (Issue Tracking)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/75018 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2015-3217?: CVE-2015-3217 is a high-severity vulnerability in IBM Powerkvm, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2016-12-13.
How severe is CVE-2015-3217?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2015-3217 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.