# CVE-2015-8816: Denial of service in n/a

> A physically proximate attacker can cause a system crash by unplugging a USB hub due to improper data structure maintenance in the Linux kernel.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Apr 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8816, GHSA-9h4c-rfpq-mrp2, UBUNTU-CVE-2015-8816

## What is CVE-2015-8816?

CVE-2015-8816 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Apr 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The hub_activate function in drivers/usb/core/hub.c in the Linux kernel before 4.3.5 does not properly maintain a hub-interface data structure, which allows physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid memory access and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by unplugging a USB hub device.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2015-8816?

It affects 11 products.


Products: Linux kernel, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Debuginfo, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Live Patching, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Module for Public Cloud, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Real Time Extension, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Server, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit, Novell Suse Linux Enterprise Workstation Extension, Suse Linux Enterprise Live Patching, Suse Linux Enterprise Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2015-8816?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2015-8816 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8816 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

- [CVE-2026-53266](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53266/): Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-6282](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-6282/): Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation (high 8.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2022-0185](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-0185/): Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2013-2094](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2013-2094/): Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation (high 8.4, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2026-53362](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-53362/): Linux Kernel Unspecified (high 7.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2015-8816 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2015-8816 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 27 Apr 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2015-8816 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Linux kernel. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8816/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8816/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2015-8816
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2015-8816
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2015-8816

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-8816/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.