CVE-2016-8649

lxc-attach in LXC before 1.0.9 and 2.x before 2.0.6 allows an attacker inside of an unprivileged container to use an inherited file descriptor, of the host's /proc, to access the rest of the host's filesystem via the openat() family of syscalls.

Published: 2017-05-01 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-8649 is rated Moderate Risk (63.1/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.15%). 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-2016-8649

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 2025-03-30 4.46% 2.15% -2.31%
2 2025-03-29 2.15% 4.46% +2.31%
3 2025-03-19 — 2.15% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-8649

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.1 3.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
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:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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.
 2.3 6.0 [email protected]
9.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-8649

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-8649

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-8649 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (lxc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-8649
suse medium CVE-2016-8649 severity moderate: SUSE including 5 source package names (liblxc-devel-2.0.4-2.1, liblxc1-2.0.4-2.1, lxc, lxc-2.0.4-2.1, lxc-devel), 8 product×package rows across 5 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP1 for Teradata, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP3 for Teradata, … (5 product lines)): Known Not Affected 5, Fixed 3. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-8649/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-8649 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (lxc), 6 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): released 4, ignored 1, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-8649

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-8649

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linuxcontainers lxc < 1.0.9 cpe:2.3:a:linuxcontainers:lxc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linuxcontainers lxc >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:linuxcontainers:lxc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-8649

cvelogic Threat Intelligence