What is CVE-2017-15306?

CVE-2017-15306 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2017-11-06.

How severe is CVE-2017-15306?

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

NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel

CVE-2017-15306

The kvm_vm_ioctl_check_extension function in arch/powerpc/kvm/powerpc.c in the Linux kernel before 4.13.11 allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) via a KVM_CHECK_EXTENSION KVM_CAP_PPC_HTM ioctl call to /dev/kvm.

Published 2017-11-06 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (31.1th percentile), scored 2026-10-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 31st percentile — 31.1% 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

www.securityfocus.com/bid/101693 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.13.11 (Release Notes)
github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/ac64115a66c18c01745bbd3c47a36b124e5fd8c0 (Patch)
git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/ (Patch)
openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/06/6 (Patch, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-15306?: CVE-2017-15306 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2017-11-06.
How severe is CVE-2017-15306?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.