CVE-2016-6828 Use after free in n/a

What is CVE-2016-6828?

CVE-2016-6828 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Linux kernel, published on 16 Oct 2016. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The tcp_check_send_head function in include/net/tcp.h in the Linux kernel before 4.7.5 does not properly maintain certain SACK state after a failed data copy, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (tcp_xmit_retransmit_queue use-after-free and system crash) via a crafted SACK option.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-6828?

It affects 1 product.

Products include Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2016-6828?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2016-6828 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-6828 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.

Other vulnerabilities in Linux kernel

• CVE-2026-53266 Linux Kernel Out-of-Bounds Write Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2013-6282 Linux Kernel Improper Input Validation Exploited High 8.8
• CVE-2022-0185 Linux Kernel Heap-Based Buffer Overflow Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2013-2094 Linux Kernel Privilege Escalation Exploited High 8.4
• CVE-2026-53362 Linux Kernel Unspecified Exploited High 7.8

All Linux kernel vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2016-6828, GHSA-2cwm-q27v-2mv8, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-6828.