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CVE-2012-6638

25
FAUCET Score

CVE-2012-6638 describes a denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel (before version 3.2.24) affecting the tcp_rcv_state_process function. Remote attackers can exploit this by sending a flood of SYN+FIN TCP packets, leading to kernel resource exhaustion. This vulnerability has a high severity CVSS score of 7.8, indicating it can be exploited remotely with low complexity and result in a complete loss of availability. There is no evidence of active exploitation, publicly available exploit code, or significant community discussion surrounding this CVE.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
< 3.0.38CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
>= 3.1, < 3.2.24CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 2.0

7.8HIGH

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Confidentiality Impact
NONE
Integrity Impact
NONE
Availability Impact
COMPLETE
Access Vector
NETWORK
Access Complexity
LOW
Authentication
NONE
Exploitability Score
10.0
Impact Score
6.9
CvssVersion
2.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
3.34%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
87.4%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0334 is in the 77th percentile among its peer group of 51,506 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (3)

github_advisorypatch availablevia nvd_reference
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: kernel-0:2.6.18-371.8.1.el5
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.9 Extended Update SupportFixed in: kernel-0:2.6.18-348.27.1.el5
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2012-6638Moderate

Kernel: net: tcp: potential DoS via SYN+FIN messages

Dec 2, 2011

References

git.kernel.org
bugzilla.redhat.com / show_bug.cgi
Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
github.com / torvalds/linux/commit/fdf5af0daf8019cec2396cdef8fb042d80fe71fa
PatchThird Party Advisory
kernel.org / pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.2.24
Vendor Advisory