What is CVE-2017-12153?

CVE-2017-12153 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 4.4/10. Published 2017-09-21.

How severe is CVE-2017-12153?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.4 out of 10.

Is CVE-2017-12153 known to be exploited?

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

NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel

CVE-2017-12153

A security flaw was discovered in the nl80211_set_rekey_data() function in net/wireless/nl80211.c in the Linux kernel through 4.13.3. This function does not check whether the required attributes are present in a Netlink request. This request can be issued by a user with the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability and may result in a NULL pointer dereference and system crash.

Published 2017-09-21 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.4 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (38.7th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 39th percentile — 38.7% 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 12.04, 14.04
Debian Linux — versions 8.0, 9.0
Kernel Since V3.1-Rc1 Through V4.13 — versions kernel since v3.1-rc1 through v4.13

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ARPSyndicate/cvemon

References

git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/jberg/mac80211.git/commit/ (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
bugzilla.novell.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
usn.ubuntu.com/3583-2/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/100855 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3981 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/3583-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
seclists.org/oss-sec/2017/q3/437 (Patch, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
marc.info/ (Patch, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-12153?: CVE-2017-12153 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 4.4/10. Published 2017-09-21.
How severe is CVE-2017-12153?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.4 out of 10.
Is CVE-2017-12153 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.