The join_session_keyring function in security/keys/process_keys.c in the Linux kernel before 4.4.1 mishandles object references in a certain error case, which allows local users to gain privileges or cause a denial of service (integer overflow and use-after-free) via crafted keyctl commands.
CVE-2016-0728
“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.
Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-17. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.
Also known asEUVD-2016-0757 (ENISA EUVD) · GHSA-pm5x-hxhr-68w7 (GitHub Security Advisories)Source: ENISA EUVD
- Public exploit or proof-of-concept code is available
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 7.8HIGHmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 51EG Risk 51/100
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.
How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)Severity78% × 45%Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 7.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.Exploitation40% × 40%EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 3 (Elevated): a constant, not a probability.Automatability0% × 15%CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 3.4%
- EPSS %ILE
- 88th
- KEV
- Not listed
What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)
The EG score (7.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 7.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.
- EG Severity
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
- EG Likelihood
- 3.4% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-29). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
- Confirmed exploitation
- None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
- EG Priority
- SSVC Track* at medium mission impactTrack at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source, and whom BOD 26-04 binds: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low, Track* at medium and Attend at high mission impact.
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation public PoC (exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table
BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.
The score's inputs: In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it
Published
February 8, 2016
Last Modified
June 17, 2026
Advisory Details (1)
Auto-updated Sep 30, 2026KEYS: Fix keyring ref leak in join_session_keyring() - kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=23567fd052a9abb6d67fe8e7a9ccdd9800a540f2Patch Availability(12)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fix (by version range) / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | linux-image-extra-3.16.0-59-generic (3.16.0-59.79~14.04.1) @ trusty | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-4.2.0-1020-raspi2 (4.2.0-1020.27) @ wily | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-extra-3.19.0-47-generic (3.19.0-47.53~14.04.1) @ trusty | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-extra-3.13.0-76-generic (3.13.0-76.120) @ trusty | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-extra-4.2.0-25-generic (4.2.0-25.30~14.04.1) @ trusty | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.19.0-47-generic-lpae (3.19.0-47.53) @ vivid | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-4.2.0-25-generic (4.2.0-25.30) @ wily | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| ubuntu | linux-image-3.13.0-76-generic-lpae (3.13.0-76.120~precise1) @ precise | 2026-10-29 | ubuntu |
| redhat | kernel-0:3.10.0-229.26.2.ael7b | 2016-02-02 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-rt-1:3.10.0-327.rt56.170.el6rt | 2016-01-26 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-0:3.10.0-327.4.5.el7 | 2016-01-25 | redhat |
| redhat | kernel-rt-0:3.10.0-327.4.5.rt56.206.el7_2 | 2016-01-25 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | — |
| — |
Debian:8(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| linux | 3.16.7-ckt11-1 ... 3.16.7-ckt9-3~deb8u1~bpo70+1 (22 versions) |
| — |
All Vendor Advisories
(12)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
- Red HatRHSA-2016:0064IMPORTANT2016-01-19
RHSA-2016:0064 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2016:0065IMPORTANT2016-01-19
RHSA-2016:0065 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2016:0068IMPORTANT2016-01-19
RHSA-2016:0068 — Important
- Red HatRHSA-2016:0103IMPORTANT2016-01-19
RHSA-2016:0103 — Important
- UbuntuUSN-2870-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2870-2HIGH
Linux kernel (Trusty HWE) vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2871-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2871-2HIGH
Linux kernel (Vivid HWE) vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2872-1HIGH
Linux kernel vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2872-2HIGH
Linux kernel (Wily HWE) vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2872-3HIGH
Linux kernel (Raspberry Pi 2) vulnerability
- UbuntuUSN-2873-1HIGH
Linux kernel (Utopic HWE) vulnerability
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 39× in last 30d)
Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 96 of 183 refreshes on record for this CVE.
A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. 4 repeat rows among the latest 100 are merged into the row they repeat. The 87 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.
- 2026-10-31 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-30 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-29 18:19 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-29 18:19 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-29 18:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pm5x-hxhr-68w7 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-29 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-28 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-27 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-26 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-25 19:50 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-25 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-24 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-23 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-22 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-22 08:39 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-22 08:39 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-10-22 08:39 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-pm5x-hxhr-68w7 · GitHub severity HIGH · GitHub CVSS 7.8
- 2026-10-21 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-20 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-19 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-18 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-18 10:56 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-17 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-16 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-15 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
Show 71 moreShow fewer
- 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-13 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-12 20:47 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-12 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-12 01:11 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-10-11 13:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-10 19:54 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-09 20:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-08 20:28 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-08 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-07 23:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-06 15:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-05 17:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-10-03 14:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-30 14:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-30 09:09 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-28 13:45 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-26 15:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-23 13:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-20 20:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-19 15:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-19 03:00 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-17 19:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-13 16:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-11 09:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-10 09:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-07 15:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-04 13:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-01 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-09-01 03:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.4% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-31 06:25 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-27 14:20 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-23 00:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-20 22:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-16 02:09 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-15 01:25 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-14 13:54 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-11 13:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-07 16:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-04 15:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-04 10:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-08-01 04:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-30 02:24 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-28 15:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-26 14:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-25 14:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-24 14:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-23 01:20 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-23 00:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:00 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 3.6% · 88th percentile
Publicly available exploits
(6 references)Public exploit code is referenced for this CVE (2 Exploit-DB entries, 4 GitHub PoCs). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly.
- GitHub PoCbittorrent3389/cve-2016-0728Published Mar 15, 2016
a exploit for cve-2016-0728
Open source ↗ - GitHub PoCneuschaefer/cve-2016-0728-testbedPublished Jan 28, 2016
A testbed for CVE-2016-0728, a refcount leak/overflow bug in Linux
Open source ↗ - Open source ↗GitHub PoCnardholio/cve-2016-0728Published Jan 22, 2016
- GitHub PoCkennetham/cve_2016_0728Published Jan 20, 2016
CVE-2016-0728 Linux Kernel Vulnerability
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-39277Published Jan 19, 2016
Linux Kernel 4.4.1 - REFCOUNT Overflow Use-After-Free in Keyrings Local Privilege Escalation (1)
Open source ↗ - Exploit-DBEDB-40003Published Jan 19, 2016
Linux Kernel 4.4.1 - REFCOUNT Overflow Use-After-Free in Keyrings Local Privilege Escalation (2)
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same product + same vendor)
Same product
10 shownDebian:8:linux
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- CVE-2019-14901EG 9.8EPSS p97CRITICAL
- CVE-2019-14897EG 9.8CRITICAL
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- CVE-2019-10126EG 9.8EPSS p94CRITICAL
Same vendor
6 shownredhat:RHSA-2016:0103 · redhat:RHSA-2016:0068
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2016-0728?
When was CVE-2016-0728 made public?
Is CVE-2016-0728 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-0728?
How do I remediate CVE-2016-0728?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2016-0728
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2016-0728?
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