Skip to content
Fencer Intel
medium 5.5

CVE-2016-6198 json

The filesystem layer in the Linux kernel before 4.5.5 proceeds with post-rename operations after an OverlayFS file is renamed to a self-har…

published 2016-08-06 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-7131

cvss
5.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.6%
EPSS 0.6% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 50%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The filesystem layer in the Linux kernel before 4.5.5 proceeds with post-rename operations after an OverlayFS file is renamed to a self-hardlink, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (system crash) via a rename system call, related to fs/namei.c and fs/open.c.

Patch / fix

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

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-6198

  • 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-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-2016-6198

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-2016:2584RHSA-2016:1875RHSA-2016:1847

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-2016-6198 updated cvss 5.5

kernel: vfs: missing detection of hardlinks in vfs_rename() on overlayfs

  • 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, perf 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, perf 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1847
  • 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
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:2584
  • 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 3.10.0-327.36.1.rt56.237.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, kernel-rt-kvm 3.10.0-327.36.1.rt56.237.el7, kernel-rt-debug-kvm 3.10.0-514.rt56.420.el7, +6 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Realtime (v. 7) kernel-rt 3.10.0-327.36.1.rt56.237.el7, kernel-rt-trace 3.10.0-327.36.1.rt56.237.el7, kernel-rt-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.36.1.rt56.237.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1875
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, perf 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-kdump 3.10.0-514.el7, +18 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, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-ppc64le 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel 3.10.0-514.el7, perf 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, kernel 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7, python-perf 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-tools 3.10.0-514.el7, +8 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-514.el7, kernel-debuginfo-common-x86_64 3.10.0-327.36.1.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1847
  • 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

Exploit prediction

0.64% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 50% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/07/11/8 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

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:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.9 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C

Classification

Weakness
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.