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Public proof of conceptFix available

CVE-2016-0728

A public proof of concept exists; no exploitation attested.

  • Published2016-02-08

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

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.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2016-02-0803:59CVE publishedNVD
  2. 2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-0728?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-0728?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Google android
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.0= 4.0no fix published
4.0= 4.0.1no fix published
4.0= 4.0.2no fix published
4.0= 4.0.3no fix published
4.0= 4.0.4no fix published
4.1= 4.1no fix published
4.1= 4.1.2no fix published
4.2= 4.2no fix published
4.2= 4.2.1no fix published
4.2= 4.2.2no fix published
4.3= 4.3no fix published
4.3= 4.3.1no fix published
Linux linux kernel
BranchAffectedFixed in
4.4≥ 4.4, < 4.4.14.4.1
4.x≥ 4.2, < 4.3.44.3.4
4.1≥ 3.19, < 4.1.164.1.16
3.x≥ 3.17, < 3.18.263.18.26
3.x≥ 3.15, < 3.16.353.16.35
3.x≥ 3.13, < 3.14.593.14.59
3.x≥ 3.11, < 3.12.533.12.53
3.x≥ 3.8, < 3.10.953.10.95
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
12.4= 12.04no fix published
14.4= 14.04no fix published
15.4= 15.04no fix published
15.10= 15.10no fix published

2 more products in the sources.

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Fix

Advisories and patches

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC
Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
EDB-39277EDB-40003
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
9 repositories, unverifiedkennetham/cve_2016_0728nardholio/cve-2016-0728googleweb/CVE-2016-0728neuschaefer/cve-2016-0728-testbedbittorrent3389/cve-2016-0728
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published
2016-02-08
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-0728?

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.

Is CVE-2016-0728 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2016-0728 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 3.4% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2016-0728?

CVE-2016-0728 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.8 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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