CVE-2020-10717

Host service interruption via file-descriptor exhaustion

Published May 4, 2020 · Updated Aug 4, 2024

Resource exhaustion in QEMU 5.0 virtiofsd allows guest OS users to interrupt host services by opening files in a shared directory. At startup, virtiofsd sets RLIMIT_NOFILE to 1,000,000 without capping it below the Linux host's fs.file-max limit, so a FUSE client can exhaust file descriptors system-wide. The attack requires a guest with a virtio-fs shared directory on a Linux host, and the resulting exhaustion can disrupt unrelated host processes.

CVSS severity3.3
Low
EPSS probability0.40%
Next 30 days · Sep 16, 2026
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Based on sourced intelligence
Hinoki checkNot available
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Summary

What happened

Resource exhaustion in QEMU 5.0 virtiofsd allows guest OS users to interrupt host services by opening files in a shared directory. At startup, virtiofsd sets RLIMIT_NOFILE to 1,000,000 without capping it below the Linux host's fs.file-max limit, so a FUSE client can exhaust file descriptors system-wide. The attack requires a guest with a virtio-fs shared directory on a Linux host, and the resulting exhaustion can disrupt unrelated host processes.

The record

CVE
CVE-2020-10717
Published
May 4, 2020
Updated
Aug 4, 2024
Vendor
QEMU Project
Product
QEMU
Classifications
CWE-770, T1499.004
Attack vector
local
Privileges
authenticated

Timeline

How it unfolded

  1. May 4, 2020CVE publishedPublication date reported by the CVE source.
  2. Aug 4, 2024Record updatedLatest update available in the CVE record.

Exploitability

Present is not the same as exploitable

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Is a vulnerable build present?

Compare these published version ranges with your installed build and any vendor patches.

  1. Affected versionversion=>= QEMU v5.0

What conditions does exploitation require?

Attack vectorlocal
Required privilegesauthenticated

What is affected?

QEMU Project · QEMUversion=>= QEMU v5.0

Published CVSS scores

3.3Red Hat, Inc.CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
6.5NIST NVDCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
2.1NIST NVDAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CVSS describes severity. EPSS estimates exploitation probability.

Attacks

What attackers are doing with it

Daily unique IPs observed by Shadowserver honeypots for known exploited vulnerabilities (KEVs). Missing observations do not establish an absence of attacks.

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No observations available

Sep 10, 2026Sep 16, 2026
Latest reporting daySep 16, 2026
Latest daily unique IPsUnavailable
Prior 30-day averageUnavailable
SourceShadowserver honeypots (KEV)
Vectorlocal
Privilegesauthenticated
Known exploitationUnconfirmed
Public exploitUnconfirmed

Weakness, pattern, technique

CWE-770Allocation of Resources Without Limits or Throttling
T1499.004Application or System Exploitation

Public exploit references

No public exploit references are available in this record.

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Technologies

Your stack

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Your stack

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