CVE-2020-10781 — A flaw was found in the Linux Kernel before 5
A flaw was found in the Linux Kernel before 5.8-rc6 in the ZRAM kernel module, where a user with a local account and the ability to read the /sys/class/zram-control/hot_add file can create ZRAM device nodes in the /dev/ directory. This read allocates kernel memory and is not acco
Published
2020-09-16T13:15:10.987
Last modified
2026-10-08T21:17:20.720
CVSS vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
01What is this vulnerability?
A flaw was found in the Linux Kernel before 5.8-rc6 in the ZRAM kernel module, where a user with a local account and the ability to read the /sys/class/zram-control/hot_add file can create ZRAM device nodes in the /dev/ directory. This read allocates kernel memory and is not accounted for a user that triggers the creation of that ZRAM device. With this vulnerability, continually reading the…
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: 2020-09-16T13:15:10.987
- Last modified: 2026-10-08T21:17:20.720
09References
- bugzilla.redhat.com — https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2020-10781
- git.kernel.org — https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=85…
- lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00025.html
- www.openwall.com — https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/06/18/1
- bugzilla.redhat.com — https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2020-10781
- git.kernel.org — https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=85…
- lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/09/msg00025.html
- www.openwall.com — https://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2020/06/18/1
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