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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2017-16995 in the critical feed json

The check_alu_op function in kernel/bpf/verifier.c in the Linux kernel through 4.4 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory…

published 2017-12-22 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-8163

cvss
7.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
30.1%
EPSS 30.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 98%
public exploits
4
Metasploit, Exploit-DB

Summary

The check_alu_op function in kernel/bpf/verifier.c in the Linux kernel through 4.4 allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or possibly have unspecified other impact by leveraging incorrect sign extension.

Patch / fix

  • linux linux_kernel 4.9.72, 4.14.9
  • linux Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 4.14.7-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-16995

  • linux Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-119.143
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 4.4.0-1016.16
  • linux-aws Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1054.63
  • linux-gcp Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-1006.9
  • linux-hwe Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-32.35~16.04.1
  • linux-kvm Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.4.0-1020.25
  • linux-oem Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-1015.16
  • linux-azure Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 4.13.0-1005.7

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-16995

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 5.14.6-1.4
  • kernel-source openSUSE Tumbleweed 6.6.17-1.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10728-1openSUSE-SU-2024:13704-1

  • linux Arch Linux 4.14.11-1
  • linux-lts Arch Linux 4.9.74-1
  • linux-zen Arch Linux 4.14.11-1
  • linux-hardened Arch Linux 4.14.11.a-1

arch linux advisories AVG-552AVG-561AVG-571AVG-574

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-2017-16995 updated cvss 7.8

kernel: memory corruption caused by BPF verifier bugs can allow for arbitrary code execution

  • 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, kernel-alt, python-perf, +9 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 perf, kernel, bpftool, kernel-core, kernel-tools, python3-perf, +17 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_sign_extension_priv_esc)
  2. Published

Exploit prediction

30.05% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 98% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

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-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer
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.