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Actively exploited in the wild. This CVE is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list — treat remediation as urgent. Federal remediation due by 2 Jun 2023.
Linux KernelOperating system · Linux

CVE-2010-3904

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2010-12-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 2.6.36 or later.
See remediation →
96/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
In the wild Public exploit Zero-click Patch available

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The rds_page_copy_user function in net/rds/page.c in the Reliable Datagram Sockets (RDS) protocol implementation in the Linux kernel before 2.6.36 does not properly validate addresses obtained from user space, which allows local users to gain privileges via crafted use of the sendmsg and recvmsg system calls.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Kernel privilege escalation vulnerability in the RDS (Reliable Datagram Sockets) protocol implementation. The rds_page_copy_user function in net/rds/page.c fails to properly validate user-space addresses before using them in kernel context, allowing local attackers to manipulate kernel memory through crafted sendmsg/recvmsg system calls.

MitigationApply the upstream kernel patch or upgrade to Linux kernel 2.6.36 or later. If RDS is not required, disable the rds kernel module as a temporary workaround.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
Affected:< 2.6.36
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.06= 8.04= 9.04= 9.10= 10.04= 10.10
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 5.0= 6.0
EsxiOperating system
Affected:= 3.5= 4.0= 4.1= 5.0
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 11.2= 11.3
Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 11
Linux Enterprise Real Time ExtensionOperating system
Affected:= 11
Linux Enterprise ServerOperating system
Affected:= 11

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
Low
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check if the RDS kernel module is loaded
    Run `lsmod | grep rds` or check `/proc/modules` for the rds module
    Affected if The rds module is loaded or loadable on the system
  2. Verify the running kernel version
    Run `uname -r` and compare the version number to 2.6.36
    Affected if The kernel version is earlier than 2.6.36 (e.g., 2.6.35.x, 2.6.34.x, etc.)
  3. Confirm RDS protocol support is enabled in the kernel
    Check for the presence of rds-related files in /proc/net/ (e.g., `ls /proc/net/rds` or `cat /proc/net/rds`)
    Affected if The RDS protocol is registered and visible in /proc/net/rds
  4. Determine if the system can create RDS sockets
    Attempt to create an RDS socket using tools like `ss -a` with rds family, or check kernel config for CONFIG_RDS kernel configuration option
    Affected if RDS sockets can be created or the CONFIG_RDS kernel option is set to y/m

The system is affected if the RDS kernel module is loaded AND the kernel version is earlier than 2.6.36, allowing local privilege escalation via the rds_page_copy_user vulnerability.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to 2.6.36 or later
Fixed in 2.6.36
Vendor patch bugzilla.redhat.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the upstream kernel patch or upgrade to Linux kernel 2.6.36 or later. If RDS is not required, disable the rds kernel module as a temporary workaround.

Recommended fix High confidence

Linux Kernel 2.6.36 or later, or distribution-specific kernel updates that include this fix

  1. 1. Check the current running kernel version using 'uname -r' or 'cat /proc/version'
  2. 2. For Red Hat Enterprise Linux / CentOS systems, run 'yum update kernel' to install the latest kernel version
  3. 3. For Debian/Ubuntu systems, run 'apt-get update && apt-get install linux-image-<version>' to install the updated kernel
  4. 4. For SUSE systems, run 'zypper update kernel-default'
  5. 5. After installation, update GRUB bootloader configuration if necessary using 'update-grub' or 'grub2-mkconfig'
  6. 6. Reboot the system to load the fixed kernel: 'reboot'
  7. 7. After reboot, verify the new kernel version is running using 'uname -r' and confirm it is version 2.6.36 or later
Caveat Kernel upgrades may require recompilation of third-party kernel modules; ensure compatible drivers are available before rebooting

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Linux Kernel Exploited in the wild — priority engagement
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
22.0 hours of engineering $3,800
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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2010-3904 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data