CVE-2016-5195
Linux Kernel: Race Condition
As of , CVE-2016-5195 in Linux Kernel is on CISA's list of exploited vulnerabilities: CISA listed it on . Our patch-first group: Patch this week.
- Exploited
- Yes: CISA listed it on 3 March 2022
- US federal deadline
- 24 March 202221 days after CISA listed it. US federal civilian agencies must fix it by then.
- Used in ransomware campaigns
- Not known to CISA
- EPSS score
- 0.84Higher than 99% of the CVEs EPSS scores. EPSS estimates the chance of exploitation activity in the next 30 days.
- EPSS when listed
- 0.12 on 3 March 2022EPSS on the day CISA listed it.
- Public exploit
- 5 Exploit-DB entries (4 verified)
- Fix
- No vendor link in CISA's entry
What CISA says to do
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
CISA's required action
What the flaw is
Race condition in mm/gup.c in the Linux kernel allows local users to escalate privileges.
CISA's description
Race condition in mm/gup.c in the Linux kernel 2.x through 4.x before 4.8.3 allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging incorrect handling of a copy-on-write (COW) feature to write to a read-only memory mapping, as exploited in the wild in October 2016, aka "Dirty COW."
The CVE record's description, from Chrome
- CVE published
- 10 November 2016
- Assigned by
- Chrome
- CVSS
- 7.0 High (CVSS 3.1, from CISA-ADP)
- CWE-362
- Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
- CISA SSVC, exploitation
- active
- CISA SSVC, automatable
- no
- CISA SSVC, technical impact
- total
Timeline
- Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 40611).
- Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 40616).
- Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 40838).
- The CVE record was published.
- Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 40847).
- Exploit-DB published an exploit (EDB-ID 40839).
- CISA added it to its list of exploited vulnerabilities.
- The US federal deadline to fix it.
Public exploits
Facts from Metasploit's module list and Exploit-DB's index; we never copy exploit code.
- Exploit-DB: Linux Kernel 2.6.22 < 3.9 - 'Dirty COW' 'PTRACE_POKEDATA' Race Condition Privilege Escalation (/etc/passwd Method)EDB-ID 40839, verified by Exploit-DB, 28 November 2016
- Exploit-DB: Linux Kernel 2.6.22 < 3.9 - 'Dirty COW /proc/self/mem' Race Condition Privilege Escalation (/etc/passwd Method)EDB-ID 40847, verified by Exploit-DB, 27 November 2016
- Exploit-DB: Linux Kernel 2.6.22 < 3.9 (x86/x64) - 'Dirty COW /proc/self/mem' Race Condition Privilege Escalation (SUID Method)EDB-ID 40616, verified by Exploit-DB, 21 October 2016
- Exploit-DB: Linux Kernel 2.6.22 < 3.9 - 'Dirty COW' /proc/self/mem Race Condition (Write Access Method)EDB-ID 40611, verified by Exploit-DB, 19 October 2016
- Exploit-DB: Linux Kernel 2.6.22 < 3.9 - 'Dirty COW PTRACE_POKEDATA' Race Condition (Write Access Method)EDB-ID 40838, 26 October 2016
Kernel: other exploited entries
| Vulnerability | Product | Our group | Listed | Deadline | EPSS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CVE-2025-39682Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions | Linux Kernel | Patch nowForensic triage required by CISA | 0.03 | ||
| CVE-2025-39964Race Condition | Linux Kernel | Patch nowForensic triage required by CISA | 0.01 | ||
| CVE-2026-53266Out-of-Bounds Write | Linux Kernel | Patch nowForensic triage required by CISA | 0.01 | ||
| CVE-2026-53362Unspecified | Linux Kernel | Patch nowForensic triage required by CISA | 0.01 | ||
| CVE-2021-22555Heap Out-of-Bounds Write | Linux Kernel | Patch this weekMetasploit module; EPSS 0.79; verified Exploit-DB entry | 0.79 | ||
| CVE-2013-6282Improper Input Validation | Linux Kernel | Patch this weekMetasploit module; verified Exploit-DB entry | 0.40 | ||
| CVE-2019-13272Improper Privilege Management | Linux Kernel | Patch this weekMetasploit module; EPSS 0.52; verified Exploit-DB entry | 0.52 | ||
| CVE-2010-3904Improper Input Validation | Linux Kernel | Patch this weekMetasploit module; verified Exploit-DB entry | 0.16 | ||
| CVE-2022-0847Privilege Escalation | Linux Kernel | Patch this weekMetasploit module; EPSS 0.93 | 0.93 | ||
| CVE-2021-3493Privilege Escalation | Linux Kernel | Patch this weekMetasploit module | 0.49 |
Read further
- CVE recordcve.org
- NVD entrynvd.nist.gov
- CISA's catalogcisa.gov
- EPSS for this CVEapi.first.org