CVE-2016-7796

Exp

The manager_dispatch_notify_fd function in systemd allows local users to cause a denial of service (system hang) via a zero-length message received over a notify socket, which causes an error to be returned and the notification handler to be disabled.

Published: 2016-10-13 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-7796 is rated Exploit Available (58/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.39%). 2 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-2016-7796

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-7796

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 2026-03-04 0.10% 0.39% +0.29%
2 2026-03-01 0.39% 0.10% -0.29%
3 2026-02-04 — 0.39% —

Full EPSS history (36 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7796

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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: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: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.
 1.8 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-2016-7796

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7796

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-7796 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-2016-7796
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7796
suse medium CVE-2016-7796 severity moderate: SUSE including 35 source package names (libgudev-1_0-0-210-114.1, libgudev-1_0-0-210-70.58.1, …), 193 product×package rows across 21 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, … (21 product lines)): Known Not Affected 142, Fixed 51. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7796/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-7796 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (systemd), 6 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 3, DNE 1, needs-triage 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-7796

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7796

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
systemd_project systemd 209 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:209:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
systemd_project systemd 213 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:213:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
systemd_project systemd 214 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:214:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
systemd_project systemd 229 cpe:2.3:a:systemd_project:systemd:229:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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_desktop 12 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_desktop:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:12.0:*:*:*:ltss:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server:12.0:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
novell suse_linux_enterprise_server_for_sap 12.0 cpe:2.3:o:novell:suse_linux_enterprise_server_for_sap:12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_hpc_node 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_hpc_node:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7796

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-10/msg00015.html Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-10/msg00016.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0003.html
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/09/30/1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93250 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037320
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1381911 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/4234#issuecomment-250441246 Exploit Patch Vendor Advisory
https://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2015-2092.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.agwa.name/blog/post/how_to_crash_systemd_in_one_tweet Exploit Technical Description Third Party Advisory
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