Is CVE-2016-5195 actively exploited?

CVE-2016-5195 has no public evidence of in-the-wild exploitation as of 2025-11-04.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2016-5195?

CVE-2016-5195 has a CVSS score of 7 (HIGH severity). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

How do I patch CVE-2016-5195?

Patch guidance is available from canonical security advisories. CVEDatabase generates AI-assisted remediation guidance on demand for CVE-2016-5195.

Fix CVE-2016-5195 - HIGH canonical ubuntu linux

Q: Which products are affected by CVE-2016-5195?

41 products: canonical ubuntu linux, canonical ubuntu linux, canonical ubuntu linux, canonical ubuntu linux, linux linux kernel, and 36 more.

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."

CVSS Metrics

Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Attack Vector: local
Complexity: high
Privileges: low
User Action: none
Scope: unchanged
Confidentiality: high
Integrity: high
Availability: high
Weaknesses: CWE-362 · Race Condition CWE-362 · Race Condition

Metadata

Primary Vendor: CANONICAL
Published: 11/10/2016
Last Modified: 11/4/2025
Source: NIST NVD
Note: Verify all details with official vendor sources before applying patches.

Affected Products

canonical : ubuntu_linuxcanonical : ubuntu_linuxcanonical : ubuntu_linuxcanonical : ubuntu_linuxlinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernellinux : linux_kernelredhat : enterprise_linuxredhat : enterprise_linuxredhat : enterprise_linuxredhat : enterprise_linux_ausredhat : enterprise_linux_ausredhat : enterprise_linux_ausredhat : enterprise_linux_eusredhat : enterprise_linux_eusredhat : enterprise_linux_eusredhat : enterprise_linux_long_liferedhat : enterprise_linux_long_liferedhat : enterprise_linux_tusdebian : debian_linuxdebian : debian_linuxfedoraproject : fedorafedoraproject : fedorafedoraproject : fedorapaloaltonetworks : pan-ospaloaltonetworks : pan-osnetapp : cloud_backupnetapp : hci_storage_nodesnetapp : oncommand_balancenetapp : oncommand_performance_managernetapp : oncommand_unified_manager_for_clustered_data_ontapnetapp : ontap_select_deploy_administration_utilitynetapp : snapprotectnetapp : solidfire

Remediation Guidance

Executive Summary

View on NIST NVD