CVE-2017-12190
kernel: memory leak when merging buffers in SCSI IO vectors
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · September 21, 2017
Updated · June 28, 2026
Description
It was found that in the Linux kernel through v4.14-rc5, bio_map_user_iov() and bio_unmap_user() in 'block/bio.c' do unbalanced pages refcounting if IO vector has small consecutive buffers belonging to the same page. bio_add_pc_page() merges them into one, but the page reference is never dropped, causing a memory leak and possible system lockup due to out-of-memory condition.
Statement
This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. This is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates of the product due to its life cycle. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/.
This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7 and MRG-2. Future updates for the respective releases may address this issue.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 3.0 · 6.2CVSS:3.0/AV:A/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CWE-400 · Uncontrolled Resource Consumption