Heap-based buffer overflow in the tg3_read_vpd function in drivers/net/ethernet/broadcom/tg3.c in the Linux kernel before 3.8.6 allows physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (system crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted firmware that specifies a long string in the Vital Product Data (VPD) data structure.
The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary. This may result in read or write operations on unexpected memory locations that could be linked to other variables, data structures, or internal program data.