CVE-2016-2847

fs/pipe.c in the Linux kernel before 4.5 does not limit the amount of unread data in pipes, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) by creating many pipes with non-default sizes.

Published: 2016-04-27 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-2847 is rated Moderate Risk (40/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.56%). Mandatory action: 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-2016-2847

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 0.05% 0.56% +0.51%
2 2025-05-21 0.04% 0.05% +0.01%
3 2025-03-30 0.04%

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-2847

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.2 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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.
2.5 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-2016-2847

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-2847

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-2847 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-2016-2847
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2847
suse medium CVE-2016-2847 severity moderate: SUSE including 175 source package names (kernel-3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists-3.10.0-514.el7, …), 495 product×package rows across 77 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (77 product lines)): Fixed 297, Known Not Affected 198. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-2847/
ubuntu low CVE-2016-2847 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 136, released 110, ignored 33. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-2847

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-2847

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel <= 4.4.8 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:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-2847

URL Tags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=759c01142a5d0f364a462346168a56de28a80f52 Patch 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/2016-08/msg00000.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00038.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2574.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2584.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0217.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3503
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/03/01/3 Patch
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinoct2016-3090547.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/83870
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2946-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2946-2
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2947-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2947-2
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2947-3
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2948-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2948-2
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2949-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2967-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2967-2
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1313428 Issue Tracking
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/759c01142a5d0f364a462346168a56de28a80f52
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