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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2016-4557 in the critical feed json

The replace_map_fd_with_map_ptr function in kernel/bpf/verifier.c in the Linux kernel before 4.5.5 does not properly maintain an fd data st…

published 2016-05-23 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-5544

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
10.2%
EPSS 10.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 95%
public exploits
3
Metasploit, Exploit-DB

Summary

The replace_map_fd_with_map_ptr function in kernel/bpf/verifier.c in the Linux kernel before 4.5.5 does not properly maintain an fd data structure, which allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (use-after-free) via crafted BPF instructions that reference an incorrect file descriptor.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 4.4.11, 4.5.5
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.5.3-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-4557

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-22.39
  • linux-raspi2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1010.12
  • linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-22.39~14.04.1
  • linux-snapdragon Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1013.14

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-4557

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-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 4.8.13-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10128-1

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-2016-4557 updated cvss 6.9

kernel: Use after free vulnerability via double fdput

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more 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

Timeline

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

Exploit prediction

10.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 95% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • Metasploit exploit/linux/local/bpf_priv_esc Linux BPF doubleput UAF Privilege Escalation metasploit exploit, good rank, 2016-05-04
  • EDB-40759 Linux Kernel 4.4 (Ubuntu 16.04) - 'BPF' Local Privilege Escalation (Metasploit) local, 2016-11-14
  • EDB-39772 Linux Kernel 4.4.x (Ubuntu 16.04) - 'double-fdput()' bpf(BPF_PROG_LOAD) Privilege Escalation local, 2016-05-04

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

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.