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Fencer Intel
high 7.0

CVE-2015-8963 json

Race condition in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 4.4 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (u…

published 2016-11-16 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2015-8819

cvss
7.0
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.4%
EPSS 1.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 73%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Race condition in kernel/events/core.c in the Linux kernel before 4.4 allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) by leveraging incorrect handling of an swevent data structure during a CPU unplug operation.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 3.2.85, 3.16.40, 3.18.54, 4.4
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.4.2-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2015-8963

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-125.174

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2015-8963

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-ec2 SLE Module for Public Cloud 12 3.12.61-52.66.1
  • kernel-ec2 SLE Module for Public Cloud 12 3.12.69-60.64.29.1
  • kernel-xen SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1, SLED 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.64.29.1
  • kernel-syms SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1, SLED 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.64.29.1
  • kernel-source SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1, SLED 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.64.29.1
  • kernel-default SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1, SLED 12 SP1 +1 more 3.12.69-60.64.29.1
  • kernel-obs-build SLE Software Development Kit 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.64.29.1
  • kernel-rt SLE Real Time 12 SP1 3.12.69-60.30.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:0471-1SUSE-SU-2017:0464-1SUSE-SU-2017:0407-1

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-2015-8963 updated cvss 7.0

kernel: Race condition on CPU unplug leading to use-after-free

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: workaround, no fix available “A possible mitigation is to only remove CPU's while the system is shut down. This will prevent local attackers from being able to abuse this flaw.”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-rt, python-perf, kernel-kdump, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    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

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
2 y ago

Exploit prediction

1.43% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 73% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 7.0 CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.6 AV:N/AC:H/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 Intel 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.