CVE-2017-16939 Use after free in n/a

What is CVE-2017-16939?

CVE-2017-16939 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 24 Nov 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The XFRM dump policy implementation in net/xfrm/xfrm_user.c in the Linux kernel before 4.13.11 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) via a crafted SO_RCVBUF setsockopt system call in conjunction with XFRM_MSG_GETPOLICY Netlink messages.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-16939?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Linux kernel.

How do I fix CVE-2017-16939?

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-2017-16939 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-16939 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code: 1 Exploit-DB entry.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

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

Also known as DEBIAN-CVE-2017-16939, GHSA-87xr-wmm8-4mx3, SUSE-SU-2017:3338-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-16939.