What is CVE-2017-12168?

CVE-2017-12168 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 6.0/10. Published 2017-09-20.

How severe is CVE-2017-12168?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.0 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Linux Kernel

CVE-2017-12168

The access_pmu_evcntr function in arch/arm64/kvm/sys_regs.c in the Linux kernel before 4.8.11 allows privileged KVM guest OS users to cause a denial of service (assertion failure and host OS crash) by accessing the Performance Monitors Cycle Count Register (PMCCNTR).

Published 2017-09-20 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.0 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (33.5th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 33rd percentile — 33.5% 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
Linux Kernel Before 4.9 — versions Linux kernel before 4.9

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-617 — Reachable Assertion

References

github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/9e3f7a29694049edd728e2400ab57ad7553e5aa9 (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.8.11 (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/ (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-12168?: CVE-2017-12168 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Reachable Assertion. CVSS score: 6.0/10. Published 2017-09-20.
How severe is CVE-2017-12168?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.0 out of 10.