CVE-2015-8816

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.

Published: 2016-04-27 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2015-8816 is rated Moderate Risk (42.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.54%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2015-8816

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 0.07% 0.54% +0.47%
2 2025-03-30 0.34% 0.07% -0.27%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.34% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-8816

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:P)
Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-8816

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-8816

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2015-8816 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (linux), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-8816
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8816
suse medium CVE-2015-8816 severity moderate: SUSE including 177 source package names (kernel-bigsmp-3.0.101-0.47.79.1, kernel-bigsmp-base-3.0.101-0.47.79.1, …), 708 product×package rows across 118 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, … (118 product lines)): Known Not Affected 419, Fixed 289. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8816/
ubuntu medium CVE-2015-8816 medium priority: Ubuntu including 27 source packages (linux, linux-armadaxp, …), 207 status rows across 8 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 135, released 38, ignored 19, not-affected 15. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-8816

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2015-8816

Comment: CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-8816

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
novell suse_linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 11.0 cpe:2.3:a:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:11.0:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 12.0 cpe:2.3:a:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_debuginfo:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_desktop 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_desktop:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_live_patching 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_live_patching:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_module_for_public_cloud 12 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_module_for_public_cloud:12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension 11 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension 12 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:11:extra:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_workstation_extension 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_workstation_extension:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 2.6.28, < 3.2.76 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.3, < 3.4.113 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.5, < 3.10.103 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.11, < 3.12.58 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.13, < 3.14.76 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.15, < 3.16.35 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.17, < 3.18.27 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.19, < 4.1.17 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.2, < 4.3.5 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_live_patching 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_live_patching:12:-:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:12:*:*:*:ltss:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-8816

URL Tags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=e50293ef9775c5f1cf3fcc093037dd6a8c5684ea Vendor Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-04/msg00019.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-06/msg00052.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-06/msg00054.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-06/msg00059.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-07/msg00005.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00003.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00008.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00009.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00015.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00016.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00018.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00019.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00020.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00021.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00022.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00026.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00038.html Third Party Advisory
http://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2016-07-01.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3503 Third Party Advisory
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.3.5 Vendor Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/23/5 Mailing List
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinoct2016-3090547.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/83363 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1311589 Issue Tracking
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/e50293ef9775c5f1cf3fcc093037dd6a8c5684ea Patch Vendor Advisory
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