CVE-2016-10156

Exp

A flaw in systemd v228 in /src/basic/fs-util.c caused world writable suid files to be created when using the systemd timers features, allowing local attackers to escalate their privileges to root. This is fixed in v229.

Published: 2017-01-23 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-10156 is rated High Exploit Risk (69.3/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.21%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2016-10156

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
41171 exploit_db edb 2017-01-24 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-10156

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 0.71% 1.21% +0.50%
2 2025-11-18 0.80% 0.71% -0.09%
3 2025-04-13 0.80%

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-10156

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
1.8 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-2016-10156

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-10156

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-10156 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (systemd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-10156
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-10156
suse high CVE-2016-10156 severity important: SUSE including 536 source package names (0.9.1:libsystemd0-228-132.1, 0.9.1:libudev1-228-132.1, …), 652 product×package rows across 58 product lines (Container caasp/v4/default-http-backend, Container caasp/v4/dnsmasq-nanny, … (58 product lines)): Fixed 472, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 23. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-10156/
ubuntu high CVE-2016-10156 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 6 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 4, DNE 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-10156

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-10156

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd 228 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:228:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-10156

cvelogic Threat Intelligence