CVE-2017-6001 Linux CVE debrief

Who should care

Linux kernel maintainers, distribution security teams, and operators of multi-user systems running affected kernel versions should treat this as a privilege-escalation fix. It is especially relevant where untrusted local users or workloads can run on the host.

Technical summary

NVD classifies the weakness as CWE-362 (race condition) with CVSS 3.1 vector AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. The affected kernel ranges listed by NVD are 3.18.54 through before 3.18.92, 4.0 through before 4.4.65, and 4.5 through before 4.9.7. The listed remediation references point to the kernel fix commit, the Linux 4.9.7 changelog, and downstream advisories.

Defensive priority

High

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade affected Linux kernels to a version that includes the fix, with 4.9.7 or later for the upstream series cited by NVD.
• Check vendor advisories and backport status for your distribution, because downstream packages may carry fixes independently of upstream version numbers.
• Review hosts that allow untrusted local users, shared compute workloads, or user-controlled applications, since the issue is local in nature.
• Use the NVD and vendor references to confirm whether your specific kernel build falls within the affected version ranges.
• Prioritize remediation on systems where local privilege escalation would materially increase impact, such as multi-tenant servers and developer workstations.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based on the CVE publication timestamp 2017-02-18T21:59:00.193Z and the supplied NVD record. The NVD description states the race condition in kernel/events/core.c, the local privilege escalation impact, the dependency on concurrent perf_event_open calls, and that the issue is due to an incomplete fix for CVE-2016-6786. The NVD CPE criteria enumerate the affected kernel ranges, and the linked kernel commit and 4.9.7 changelog provide remediation context.

Official resources