SOC status:Duty analyst on shift

UK Cyber Defence
VulnerabilityModified

CVE-2017-9605

If one attempts to create a GB surface, with a previously allocated DMA buffer to be used as a backup buffer, the backup_handle variable does not get written to and is then later returned to user space, allowing local users to obtain sensitive…

MEDIUM 5.5EPSS 0.40%

Does this matter?

Lower severity and a low EPSS score (0.40%). Track it; it rarely justifies an emergency change on its own.

Description

The vmw_gb_surface_define_ioctl function (accessible via DRM_IOCTL_VMW_GB_SURFACE_CREATE) in drivers/gpu/drm/vmwgfx/vmwgfx_surface.c in the Linux kernel through 4.11.4 defines a backup_handle variable but does not give it an initial value. If one attempts to create a GB surface, with a previously allocated DMA buffer to be used as a backup buffer, the backup_handle variable does not get written to and is then later returned to user space, allowing local users to obtain sensitive information from uninitialized kernel memory via a crafted ioctl call.

CVSS 3.0
5.5 MEDIUMCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
EPSS
0.40% probability · 34th percentile
Public exploits
None in Exploit-DB
CISA KEV
Not listed
Weakness
CWE-200
Affected
linux/linux kernel
Source
cve@mitre.org
EPSS trend
0%3%5%27 October 2026: 0.40%27 October 202627 October 2026

EPSS 0.4% since 27 October 2026; no change recorded yet. Points are recorded when the score first appears and whenever it moves by a percentage point or more.

References

Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.