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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2016-8655 in the critical feed json

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 serv…

published 2016-12-08 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-9494

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
11.1%
EPSS 11.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 95%
public exploits
4
Metasploit, Exploit-DB

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.2.85, 3.10.106, 3.12.69, 3.16.40, 3.18.46, 4.1.37, 4.4.38, 4.8.14
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.8.15-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-8655

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-105.152
  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-53.74
  • linux-raspi2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1034.41
  • linux-lts-vivid Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.19.0-77.85~14.04.1
  • linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-53.74~14.04.1
  • linux-snapdragon Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1039.43

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-8655

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • kernel-rt RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
  • kernel-rt-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
  • kernel-rt-trace RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
  • kernel-rt-debug-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
  • kernel-rt-trace-kvm RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
  • kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 RHEL 7 EXTRAS_RT 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
  • kernel-rt enterprise mrg 2 1:3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt
  • kernel-rt-trace enterprise mrg 2 1:3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt

red hat advisories RHSA-2017:0387RHSA-2017:0402RHSA-2017:0386

  • kernel-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1
  • kernel-compute SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1
  • kernel-syms-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1
  • kernel-rt_debug SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1
  • kernel-source-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1
  • kernel-compute_debug SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1
  • kernel-ec2 SLE Module for Public Cloud 12 3.12.60-52.60.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2, SLES 12 SP2 +1 more 4.4.21-84.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:0407-1SUSE-SU-2016:3249-1SUSE-SU-2016:3247-1SUSE-SU-2016:3205-1SUSE-SU-2016:3206-1SUSE-SU-2016:3197-1

  • linux Arch Linux 4.8.12-2
  • linux-lts Arch Linux 4.4.36-1
  • linux-zen Arch Linux 4.8.12-2

arch linux advisories AVG-95AVG-96AVG-98

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2016-8655 updated cvss 7.0

kernel: Race condition in packet_set_ring leads to use after free

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:0386
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Realtime (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.rt56.435.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:0387
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.10.2.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:0386
  • Red Hat MRG Realtime for RHEL 6 Server v.2 kernel-rt 3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt, kernel-rt-vanilla 3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt, kernel-rt-firmware 3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.rt56.215.el6rt
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2017:0402
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Timeline

  1. First public exploit (Metasploit exploit/linux/local/af_packet_chocobo_root_priv_esc)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

11.13% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 95% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • Metasploit exploit/linux/local/af_packet_chocobo_root_priv_esc AF_PACKET chocobo_root Privilege Escalation metasploit exploit, good rank, 2016-08-12
  • EDB-47170 Linux Kernel 4.4.0-21 < 4.4.0-51 (Ubuntu 14.04/16.04 x64) - 'AF_PACKET' Race Condition Privilege Escalation local, 2018-12-29
  • EDB-44696 Linux 4.4.0 < 4.4.0-53 - 'AF_PACKET chocobo_root' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) local, 2018-05-22
  • EDB-40871 Linux Kernel 4.4.0 (Ubuntu 14.04/16.04 x86-64) - 'AF_PACKET' Race Condition Privilege Escalation local, 2016-12-06

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.2 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-362 Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization
  • CWE-416 Use After Free
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.