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Fencer Intel
medium 5.5

CVE-2016-4578 json

sound/core/timer.c in the Linux kernel through 4.6 does not initialize certain r1 data structures, which allows local users to obtain sensi…

published 2016-05-23 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-5564

cvss
5.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
1.2%
EPSS 1.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 68%
public exploits
1
Exploit-DB

Summary

sound/core/timer.c in the Linux kernel through 4.6 does not initialize certain r1 data structures, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information from kernel stack memory via crafted use of the ALSA timer interface, related to the (1) snd_timer_user_ccallback and (2) snd_timer_user_tinterrupt functions.

Patch / fix

  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.5.5-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-4578

  • linux Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.13.0-91.138
  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-28.47
  • linux-raspi2 Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1016.22
  • linux-lts-wily Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.2.0-41.48~14.04.1
  • linux-lts-vivid Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.19.0-64.72~14.04.1
  • linux-lts-utopic Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.16.0-76.98~14.04.1
  • linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-28.47~14.04.1
  • linux-snapdragon Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1019.22

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-4578

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 RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • python-perf RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • kernel-kdump RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • kernel-tools RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • kernel-tools-libs RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • kernel-bootwrapper RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7
  • kernel-abi-whitelists RHEL 7 3.10.0-514.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2016:2574RHSA-2016:2584

  • kernel-ec2 SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3, OpenStack Cloud 5 +2 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-pae SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-xen SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3, OpenStack Cloud 5 +2 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-syms SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3, OpenStack Cloud 5 +2 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-trace SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3, OpenStack Cloud 5 +2 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-bigsmp SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, OpenStack Cloud 5, Manager Proxy 2.1 +1 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-source SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3, OpenStack Cloud 5 +2 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1
  • kernel-default SLES 11 SP3-LTSS, SLE Point of Sale 11 SP3, OpenStack Cloud 5 +2 more 3.0.101-0.47.86.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:0333-1SUSE-SU-2016:2245-1SUSE-SU-2016:2105-1SUSE-SU-2016:1985-1SUSE-SU-2016:1937-1SUSE-SU-2016:1690-1

  • 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-2016-4578 updated cvss 2.1

kernel: Information leak in events in timer.c

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 kernel Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 perf, kernel, python-perf, kernel-kdump, kernel-firmware, kernel-bootwrapper, +1 more
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 kernel-rt, mrg-rt-release, kernel-rt-trace, kernel-rt-vanilla, kernel-rt-firmware
    affected: no fix available
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-514.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-514.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:2574
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for Real Time for NFV (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-trace-kvm 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:2584
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.el7, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-514.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools-libs 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-abi-whitelists 3.10.0-514.el7, +1 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:2574

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. Published
  2. First public exploit (EDB-46529)

Exploit prediction

1.20% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 68% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • EDB-46529 Linux Kernel 4.4 (Ubuntu 16.04) - 'snd_timer_user_ccallback()' Kernel Pointer Leak dos, 2019-03-11

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 5.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
NVD 2.0 2.1 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-200 Exposure of Sensitive Information to an Unauthorized Actor
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.