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CVE-2016-5195

High 7.0 Exploited in the wild (KEV)

Confirmed active exploitation — CISA KEV catalog

Name
Linux Kernel Race Condition Vulnerability
Added to catalog
Remediation due date (US federal)
Required action
Apply updates per vendor instructions.

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."

Metrics

CVSS 3.1
7.0 (HIGH) Score source: NVD CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
EPSS — exploit probability
84% (percentile: 100) as of 1 November 2026
CWE
CWE-362

Affected products

canonical: ubuntu linux; linux: linux kernel; redhat: enterprise linux; redhat: enterprise linux aus; redhat: enterprise linux eus; redhat: enterprise linux long life; redhat: enterprise linux tus; debian: debian linux; fedoraproject: fedora; paloaltonetworks: pan-os; netapp: cloud backup; netapp: hci storage nodes; netapp: oncommand balance; netapp: oncommand performance manager; netapp: oncommand unified manager for clustered data ontap

References