CVE-2017-5987 — The sdhci_sdma_transfer_multi_blocks function in hw/sd/sdhci

The sdhci_sdma_transfer_multi_blocks function in hw/sd/sdhci.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local OS guest privileged users to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and QEMU process crash) via vectors involving the transfer mode register during multi block transfer.

01What is this vulnerability?

The sdhci_sdma_transfer_multi_blocks function in hw/sd/sdhci.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local OS guest privileged users to cause a denial of service (infinite loop and QEMU process crash) via vectors involving the transfer mode register during multi block transfer.

02Affected products

No structured affected-product list available — see references below for vendor advisories.

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2017-03-20T16:59:02.203
• Last modified: 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033

09References

• git.qemu-project.org — http://git.qemu-project.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=6e86d90352adf6cb082952552…
• www.openwall.com — http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/14/8
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96263
• bugzilla.redhat.com — https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1421995
• lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00007.html
• lists.gnu.org — https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2017-02/msg02776.html
• security.gentoo.org — https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201704-01
• git.qemu-project.org — http://git.qemu-project.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=6e86d90352adf6cb082952552…
• www.openwall.com — http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/14/8
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96263