{"id":"CVE-2018-12904","url":"https://www.cyber-defence.io/tools/cve/CVE-2018-12904","generatedAt":"2026-10-28T21:28:56.814Z","title":"In arch/x86/kvm/vmx.c in the Linux kernel before 4.17.2, when nested virtualization is used, local attackers could cause L1 KVM guests to VMEXIT, potentially allowing privilege escalations and denial of service attacks due to lack of checking of CPL.","description":"In arch/x86/kvm/vmx.c in the Linux kernel before 4.17.2, when nested virtualization is used, local attackers could cause L1 KVM guests to VMEXIT, potentially allowing privilege escalations and denial of service attacks due to lack of checking of CPL.","published":"2018-06-27T11:29:00.000Z","lastModified":"2026-06-17T01:38:33.000Z","status":"Modified","sourceIdentifier":"cve@mitre.org","cvss":{"version":"3.0","score":4.9,"severity":"MEDIUM","vector":"CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L"},"cwe":[],"affected":["linux/linux kernel","canonical/ubuntu linux"],"epss":{"score":0.01182,"percentile":0.67583,"date":"2026-10-27","history":[]},"kev":{"listed":false},"exploits":{"count":1,"verified":true,"firstPublished":"2018-06-25","source":"Exploit-DB (https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb)","entries":[{"edbId":44944,"kind":"exploit","title":"KVM (Nested Virtualization) - L1 Guest Privilege Escalation","url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44944","sourceUrl":"https://gitlab.com/exploit-database/exploitdb/-/blob/main/exploits/linux/dos/44944.txt","file":"exploits/linux/dos/44944.txt","published":"2018-06-25","added":"2018-06-25","updated":"2018-06-27","author":"Google Security Research","type":"dos","platform":"linux","port":null,"verified":true,"codes":["CVE-2018-12904"],"tags":"Denial of Service (DoS)","aliases":null,"applicationUrl":null,"screenshotUrl":null,"referenceUrl":"https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1589"}]},"verdict":{"level":"high","text":"A public exploit is published in Exploit-DB (verified), so the technical barrier is gone even though the severity is medium and EPSS is 1.2%. Treat it as high on anything reachable from the internet."},"changes":[],"references":[{"url":"http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=727ba748e110b4de50d142edca9d6a9b7e6111d8","tags":["Patch","Vendor Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1589","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.17.2","tags":["Release Notes","Vendor Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/727ba748e110b4de50d142edca9d6a9b7e6111d8","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44944/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"cve@mitre.org"},{"url":"http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=727ba748e110b4de50d142edca9d6a9b7e6111d8","tags":["Patch","Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1589","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.17.2","tags":["Release Notes","Vendor Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/727ba748e110b4de50d142edca9d6a9b7e6111d8","tags":["Patch","Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-1/","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-2/","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://usn.ubuntu.com/3752-3/","tags":["Third Party Advisory"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"},{"url":"https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44944/","tags":["Exploit","Third Party Advisory","VDB Entry"],"source":"af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108"}],"sources":{"nvd":"https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12904","epss":"https://www.first.org/epss/","kev":"https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog","exploitdb":"https://www.exploit-db.com/"},"licence":"CC BY 4.0 — link back to the CVE Explorer if you publish the results; upstream data remains subject to its own terms."}