CVE-2012-3515

Qemu, as used in Xen 4.0, 4.1 and possibly other products, when emulating certain devices with a virtual console backend, allows local OS guest users to gain privileges via a crafted escape VT100 sequence that triggers the overwrite of a "device model's address space."

Published: 2012-11-23 Last update: 2026-04-29 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2012-3515 is rated Low Risk (37/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.07%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2012-3515

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2023-03-07 1.55% 0.07% -1.48%
2 2022-02-04 1.55%

Full EPSS history (2 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2012-3515

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2012-3515

OS Trackers for CVE-2012-3515

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2012-3515 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (qemu, xen), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2012-3515
gentoo normal CVE-2012-3515: 2 GLSA(s) (201309-24, 201604-03), 4 atom(s) (app-emulation/pvgrub, app-emulation/xen, app-emulation/xen-pvgrub, app-emulation/xen-tools); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2012-3515
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-3515
suse high CVE-2012-3515 severity important: SUSE including 286 source package names (kvm, kvm-0.12.5-1.24.1, …), 405 product×package rows across 34 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP2, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12, … (34 product lines)): Fixed 403, Known Not Affected 2. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2012-3515/
ubuntu medium CVE-2012-3515 medium priority: Ubuntu including 6 source packages (qemu-kvm, xen, xen-3.1, xen-3.2, xen-3.3, xen-qemu-dm-4.0), 54 status rows across 9 suites (hardy, lucid, natty, oneiric, precise, quantal, raring, saucy, upstream): DNE 33, released 7, ignored 5, needs-triage 5, not-affected 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2012-3515

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2012-3515

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
qemu qemu < 1.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:qemu:qemu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
xen xen 4.0.0 cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:4.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
xen xen 4.1.0 cpe:2.3:o:xen:xen:4.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 11.4 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:11.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 12.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:12.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 12.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:12.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:11:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp3:*:*:ltss:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp1:*:*:ltss:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp2:*:*:*:-:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp2:*:*:*:vmware:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 10 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:10:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:11:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat virtualization 3.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:virtualization:3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat virtualization 5.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:virtualization:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat virtualization 6.0 cpe:2.3:a:redhat:virtualization:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_eus 6.3 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_eus:6.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 10.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:10.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 11.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 11.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:11.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*

References for CVE-2012-3515

URL Tags
http://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu-stable-0.15.git%3Ba=log
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00001.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00003.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00004.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00005.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00012.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00016.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00017.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00018.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00024.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00026.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-09/msg00027.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-10/msg00002.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-11/msg00017.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2012-11/msg00018.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2012-09/msg00051.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.xen.org/archives/html/xen-announce/2012-09/msg00003.html Mailing List Vendor Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1233.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1234.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1235.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1236.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1262.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2012-1325.html Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50472 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50528 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50530 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50632 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50689 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50860 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/50913 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/51413 Third Party Advisory
http://secunia.com/advisories/55082 Third Party Advisory
http://security.gentoo.org/glsa/glsa-201309-24.xml Third Party Advisory
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX134708 Third Party Advisory
http://wiki.xen.org/wiki/Security_Announcements#XSA-17_Qemu_VT100_emulation_vulnerability Vendor Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2543 Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2012/dsa-2545 Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2012/09/05/10 Mailing List Mitigation Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/55413 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-1590-1 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201604-03 Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence