CVE-2016-9793

Exp

The sock_setsockopt function in net/core/sock.c in the Linux kernel before 4.8.14 mishandles negative values of sk_sndbuf and sk_rcvbuf, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by leveraging the CAP_NET_ADMIN capability for a crafted setsockopt system call with the (1) SO_SNDBUFFORCE or (2) SO_RCVBUFFORCE option.

Published: 2016-12-28 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-9793 is rated High Exploit Risk (70/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.57%). 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-2016-9793

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
41995 exploit_db edb 2017-03-22 Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-9793

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 2.97% 1.57% -1.41%
2 2026-05-22 2.76% 2.97% +0.21%
3 2026-01-19 — 2.76% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9793

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-2016-9793

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-9793

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-9793 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-2016-9793
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9793
suse medium CVE-2016-9793 severity moderate: SUSE including 178 source package names (cluster-md-kmp-default-4.4.38-93.1, cluster-network-kmp-default-4.4.38-93.1, …), 379 product×package rows across 40 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Liberty Linux 7, … (40 product lines)): Fixed 323, Known Not Affected 56. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9793/
ubuntu low CVE-2016-9793 low priority: Ubuntu including 27 source packages (linux, linux-armadaxp, …), 162 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 103, released 38, not-affected 14, ignored 7. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-9793

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9793

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
linux linux_kernel >= 3.5, < 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, < 3.18.52 cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
linux linux_kernel >= 3.19, < 4.1.50 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9793

URL Tags
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=b98b0bc8c431e3ceb4b26b0dfc8db509518fb290 Patch Vendor Advisory
http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v4.x/ChangeLog-4.8.14 Release Notes Vendor Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/12/03/1 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94655 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037968 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0931 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0932 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0933 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1402013 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/b98b0bc8c431e3ceb4b26b0dfc8db509518fb290 Patch Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/xairy/kernel-exploits/tree/master/CVE-2016-9793 Third Party Advisory
https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2017-03-01.html Third Party Advisory
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