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CVE-2016-9083: Linux kernel VFIO PCI driver can be crashed locally

CVE-2016-9083 · published 9 years ago

Summary

The VFIO PCI component in Linux kernels up to version 4.8.11 can be tricked by a user with local access into miscalculating numbers, leading to memory corruption and a possible system crash. This issue arises when the user interacts with a specific device control interface. Updating the kernel to a newer version or applying the vendor’s security patch resolves the problem.

What to do

Update debian linux to version 4.8.11-1.

Affected software

Ecosystem	Vendor	Product	Affected versions
Debian:12	debian	linux	< 4.8.11-1 Fix: upgrade to 4.8.11-1
Debian:13	debian	linux	< 4.8.11-1 Fix: upgrade to 4.8.11-1
Debian:14	debian	linux	< 4.8.11-1 Fix: upgrade to 4.8.11-1
–	linux	linux_kernel	>= 3.6, < 3.10.107 >= 3.11, < 3.12.70 >= 3.13, < 3.16.39 >= 3.17, < 3.18.51 >= 3.19, < 4.1.41 >= 4.2, < 4.4.65 >= 4.5, < 4.9 `cpe:2.3:o:linux:linux_kernel::::::::`

Original advisory text

drivers/vfio/pci/vfio_pci.c in the Linux kernel through 4.8.11 allows local users to bypass integer overflow checks, and cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or have unspecified other impact, by leveraging access to a vfio PCI device file for a VFIO_DEVICE_SET_IRQS ioctl call, aka a "state machine confusion bug."

References

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-9083 Vendor Advisory
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=05692d... Issue Tracking Patch Vendor Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0386.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0387.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/10/26/11 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93929 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1389258 Issue Tracking
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/05692d7005a364add85c6e25a6c4447ce08f913... Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://patchwork.kernel.org/patch/9373631/ Patch Vendor Advisory

Fix within

Internet-facing 14 days

Internal At next upgrade

Not known to be exploited
Needs hands-on effort to exploit (estimated)
Gives an attacker full control (estimated)

Severity

7.8 High

Exploitation

<1% chance of attack within 30 days

Type

CWE-119Buffer Overflow

CWE-190Integer Overflow

Timeline

Published28 Nov 2016

Updated4 Nov 2026

First seen22 Sep 2026

Sources

DEBIAN-CVE-2016-9083 · OSV

CVE-2016-9083 · NVD

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