What is CVE-2020-28974?

CVE-2020-28974 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 5.0/10. Published 2020-11-20.

How severe is CVE-2020-28974?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.0 out of 10.

Is CVE-2020-28974 known to be exploited?

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

Out-of-bounds Read in Linux Kernel

CVE-2020-28974

A slab-out-of-bounds read in fbcon in the Linux kernel before 5.9.7 could be used by local attackers to read privileged information or potentially crash the kernel, aka CID-3c4e0dff2095. This occurs because KD_FONT_OP_COPY in drivers/tty/vt/vt.c can be used for manipulations such as font height.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2020-11-20 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.0 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (41.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-03.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 42nd percentile — 41.9% 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
Debian Linux — versions 9.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-125 — Out-of-bounds Read

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ZIllR0/Routers

References

git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/ (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
seclists.org/oss-sec/2020/q4/104 (Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.9.7 (Release Notes, Vendor Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/11/25/1 (mailing-list, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00015.html (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00027.html (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210108-0003/ (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2020-28974?: CVE-2020-28974 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under Out-of-bounds Read. CVSS score: 5.0/10. Published 2020-11-20.
How severe is CVE-2020-28974?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.0 out of 10.
Is CVE-2020-28974 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.