CVE-2016-2186

Exp

The powermate_probe function in drivers/input/misc/powermate.c in the Linux kernel before 4.5.1 allows physically proximate attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) via a crafted endpoints value in a USB device descriptor.

Published: 2016-05-02 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-2186 is rated Exploit Available (50/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2016-2186

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-2186

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 2026-05-13 0.03% 0.08% +0.05%
2 2025-12-30 0.05% 0.03% -0.03%
3 2025-11-25 — 0.05% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-2186

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.6 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.9 3.6 [email protected]
4.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-2186

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-2186

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2016-2186 low 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-2016-2186
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2186
ubuntu low CVE-2016-2186 low priority: Ubuntu including 99 source packages (linux, linux-armadaxp, …), 828 status rows across 13 suites (artful, bionic, focal, jammy, noble, plucky, precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 549, not-affected 133, released 113, ignored 33. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-2186

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2016-2186

Comment: <a href="http://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/476.html">CWE-476: NULL Pointer Dereference</a>

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-2186

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel <= 4.5.0 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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_software_development_kit 12.0 cpe:2.3:a:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:12.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_debuginfo:11.0:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_desktop 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_desktop:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_desktop 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_desktop:12.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
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 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_module_for_public_cloud:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension:11.0:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_real_time_extension:12.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:11.0:extra:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 11.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:11.0:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:12.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_workstation_extension 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_workstation_extension:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_workstation_extension 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_workstation_extension:12.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-2186

URL Tags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=9c6ba456711687b794dcf285856fc14e2c76074f Vendor Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-05/msg00060.html
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/msg00056.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/msg00038.html
http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2016/Mar/117 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/bugtraq/2016/Mar/85 Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3607
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.5.1
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/84337
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2968-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2968-2
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2969-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2970-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2971-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2971-2
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2971-3
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2996-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2997-1 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1317015 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/9c6ba456711687b794dcf285856fc14e2c76074f Vendor Advisory
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