CVE-2016-8655

Exp

Race condition in net/packet/af_packet.c in the Linux kernel through 4.8.12 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) by leveraging the CAP_NET_RAW capability to change a socket version, related to the packet_set_ring and packet_setsockopt functions.

Published: 2016-12-08 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-8655 is rated High Exploit Risk (85.4/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 47.36%, 98th percentile). 3 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +9.08% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2016-8655

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
47170 exploit_db edb 2018-12-29 Exploit-DB ↗
44696 exploit_db edb 2018-05-22 Exploit-DB ↗
40871 exploit_db edb 2016-12-06 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-8655

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 2026-06-03 38.28% 47.36% +9.08%
2 2026-05-26 37.70% 38.28% +0.58%
3 2026-05-24 — 37.70% —

Full EPSS history (41 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-8655

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/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-2016-8655

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-8655

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-8655 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-2016-8655
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-8655
suse medium CVE-2016-8655 severity moderate: SUSE including 208 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default-4.4.21-84.1, cluster-network-kmp-default-4.4.21-84.1, …), 571 product×package rows across 84 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SLES for SAP Applications 11 SP3, … (84 product lines)): Known Not Affected 342, Fixed 229. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-8655/
ubuntu high CVE-2016-8655 high priority: Ubuntu including 27 source packages (linux, linux-armadaxp, …), 162 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 103, released 40, ignored 11, not-affected 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-8655

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-8655

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.2, < 3.2.85 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.3, < 3.10.106 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.11, < 3.12.69 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.13, < 3.16.40 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.17, < 3.18.46 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.19, < 4.1.37 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.2, < 4.4.38 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 4.5, < 4.8.14 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-8655

URL Tags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=84ac7260236a49c79eede91617700174c2c19b0c Patch Vendor Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00044.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00054.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00055.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00056.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00067.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00070.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00073.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00076.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00077.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-12/msg00087.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140063/Linux-Kernel-4.4.0-AF_PACKET-Race-Condition-Privilege-Escalation.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0386.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0387.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0402.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/12/06/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94692 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037403 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037968 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3149-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3149-2 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3150-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3150-2 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3151-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3151-2 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3151-3 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3151-4 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3152-1 Third Party Advisory
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3152-2 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1400019 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/84ac7260236a49c79eede91617700174c2c19b0c Patch Third Party Advisory
https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2017-03-01.html Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40871/ Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/44696/ Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
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