CVE-2016-5195 Linux Kernel Race Condition
Exploited in the wild
High 7.0
Published
Updated
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-5195 and fix it if it is affected.
What it is: CVE-2016-5195 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 10 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2016-5195 in the wild since at least 3 Mar 2022.
Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2016-5195/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-5195/index.md)
Local attackers can exploit a race condition in the Linux kernel's copy-on-write handling to gain elevated privileges.
- Exploited in the wild
- Since 3 Mar 2022
- Login needed
- Any signed-in user
- Attackable
- Local or same network only
- Victim action needed
- Not needed
- Fix
- Available
What is CVE-2016-5195?
CVE-2016-5195 is a high-severity vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 10 Nov 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Official 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."
Weakness: CWE-362
Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-5195?
It affects 18 products.
Linux distribution packages (40)
kernel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-abi-whitelists Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-doc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-firmware Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-headers Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
perf Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
perf-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
python-perf Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
python-perf-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::client | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-abi-whitelists Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-doc Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-firmware Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-headers Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
perf Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
perf-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
python-perf Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
python-perf-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::computenode | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-abi-whitelists Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-bootwrapper Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debug-devel Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
kernel-debuginfo-common-i686 Red Hat:enterprise_linux:6::server | All versions | 0:2.6.32-642.6.2.el6 |
Products include Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Linux kernel, Netapp Cloud Backup, Netapp Hci Storage Nodes and 12 more.
How do I fix CVE-2016-5195?
Apply the vendor's patch. US federal agencies must fix it by 24 Mar 2022.
Is CVE-2016-5195 being exploited?
Yes. Attackers have exploited CVE-2016-5195 in the wild since at least 3 Mar 2022.
Public exploit code: 5 Exploit-DB entries and 66 proofs of concept on GitHub.
Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux
Sources
Also known as CVE-2016-3919, DEBIAN-CVE-2016-5195, GHSA-j68w-7qm9-fjqq, RHSA-2016:2098, RHSA-2016:2105, RHSA-2016:2106 and 17 more.