CVE-2016-5195: Linux Kernel Race Condition Vulnerability
- Is it exploited?
Yes. CISA added it to the Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog on 3 Mar 2022, 1,939 days after the CVE record was published.
- How likely is exploitation in the next 30 days?
- 83.5%
EPSS score, percentile 99.7 of all scored records
- How severe?
- 7.0 High
CVSS v3.1 base score, from CISA's enrichment of the record
- What should I do?
CISA deadline 24 Mar 2022. Apply updates per vendor instructions.
- Which versions are affected?
Not stated. The CVE record gives vendor and product as “n/a” and the version as “unspecified”.
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.
What to do
Required action, set by CISA
Apply updates per vendor instructions.
CISA due date for this action: 24 March 2022.
Advisories and patches
- RHSA-2016:2107
- RHSA-2017:0372
- RHSA-2016:2118
- RHSA-2016:2128
- RHSA-2016:2120
- RHSA-2016:2133
- RHSA-2016:2098
- RHSA-2016:2127
- RHSA-2016:2106
- RHSA-2016:2124
- RHSA-2016:2105
- RHSA-2016:2126
Linked from CISA's catalog entry
Affected products and versions
The CVE record does not name affected products or versions: vendor and product are “n/a” and the version is “unspecified”.
Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.
About this vulnerability
Race condition in mm/gup.c in the Linux kernel allows local users to escalate privileges.
Summary: CISA's KEV catalog, as of 28 Oct 2026.
- CISA added CVE-2016-5195 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog on 3 Mar 2022.
- CISA's ransomware flag for this entry is "Unknown": no evidence of ransomware use in the catalog, which is not proof of none.
- The due date CISA sets for the required action is 24 Mar 2022.
- The CVE record was published on 10 Nov 2016, 1,939 days before it was added to KEV.
- The CVE record carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.0 (High), taken from CISA's enrichment of the record.
- FIRST's EPSS model puts the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days at 83.5% (percentile 99.7), as of 28 Oct 2026.
- CISA's SSVC assessment in the CVE record: exploitation active, automatable no, technical impact total.
Source: CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, 2026.10.28, as of 28 Oct 2026; CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026; FIRST Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), v2026.06.15, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.
Description
Race condition in mm/gup.c in the Linux kernel 2.x through 4.x before 4.8.3 allows local users to gain privileges by leveraging incorrect handling of a copy-on-write (COW) feature to write to a read-only memory mapping, as exploited in the wild in October 2016, aka "Dirty COW."
Source: CVE List V5 (CVE Program), cve_2026-10-28_0000Z, as of 28 Oct 2026. About the data.
Weakness
- CWE-362: Concurrent Execution using Shared Resource with Improper Synchronization ('Race Condition')
CWE and CAPEC are maintained by MITRE; the entries are those named in the CVE record and the KEV entry.
Timeline
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 10 Nov 2016 | CVE record published |
| 3 Mar 2022 | Added to CISA KEV |
| 24 Mar 2022 | CISA due date for the required action |
| 4 Nov 2025 | CVE record last updated |
References
114 more in the CVE record.
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