ExploitedIn CISA KEVFix available

CVE-2016-5195

Q: Is CVE-2016-5195 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2016-5195 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2022-03-24.

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

CVE-2016-5195 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Exploitation confirmed. First attested on 2022-03-03 by CISA-ADP, CISA KEV, GCVE · kevintel.

Published2016-11-10
Fixed in4.8.3 · 4.7.9 · 4.4.26 · 4.1.35 · 3.18.44 · 3.16.38
WeaknessCWE-362

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

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."

Timeline

dates in UTC

2016-11-1021:59CVE publishedNVD
2022-03-03Listed as exploited by GCVEGCVE
2022-03-03Exploitation first reportedCISA KEV
2022-03-03Added to the CISA KEV catalogCISA KEV
2025-01-2917:18SSVC exploitation set to activeCISA-ADP
2026-10-2319:23First public proof of conceptPoC-in-GitHub
2026-10-2319:23EPSS crossed 10 %FIRST EPSS

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-2016-5195?format=txt
CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2016-5195?format=csv
TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD

Linux linux kernel

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
4.8	≥ 4.8, < 4.8.3	4.8.3	NVD
4.x	≥ 4.5, < 4.7.9	4.7.9	NVD
4.x	≥ 4.2, < 4.4.26	4.4.26	NVD
4.1	≥ 3.19, < 4.1.35	4.1.35	NVD
3.x	≥ 3.17, < 3.18.44	3.18.44	NVD
3.x	≥ 3.13, < 3.16.38	3.16.38	NVD
3.x	≥ 3.11, < 3.12.66	3.12.66	NVD
3.x	≥ 3.5, < 3.10.104	3.10.104	NVD
3.x	≥ 3.3, < 3.4.113	3.4.113	NVD
3.2	≥ 2.6.22, < 3.2.83	3.2.83	NVD

Canonical ubuntu linux

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
12.4	= 12.04	no fix published	NVD
14.4	= 14.04	no fix published	NVD
16.4	= 16.04	no fix published	NVD
16.10	= 16.10	no fix published	NVD

Fedoraproject fedora

Branch	Affected	Fixed in	Source
23.x	= 23	no fix published	NVD
24.x	= 24	no fix published	NVD
25.x	= 25	no fix published	NVD

15 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

Update Linux linux kernel to 4.8.3 · 4.7.9 · 4.4.26 · 4.1.35 · 3.18.44 · 3.16.38 · 3.12.66 · 3.10.104
CISA’s required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.due 2022-03-24

Advisories and patches

git.kernel.orgPatch · Vendor Advisory
www.kernel.orgRelease Notes
www.oracle.comPatch
github.comPatch
lists.fedoraproject.orgRelease Notes
lists.fedoraproject.orgRelease Notes

Detection

read 2026-10-23 19:23 UTC

Nuclei template: none so far
Exploit-DB: no entry
Proof-of-concept repositories: 20 repositories, unverifiedASRTeam/CVE-2016-5195timwr/CVE-2016-5195xlucas/dirtycow.cristenrot/centos-dirty-cow-ansiblepgporada/ansible-role-cve

CISA Known Exploited Vulnerability

Date Added: 2022-03-03
Patch Due Date: 2022-03-24
Ransomware Use: Unknown
Required Action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Sources

CISA KEVKEV entry2022-03-03
GCVEexploitation2022-03-03
CISA-ADPSSVC decisionactive2025-01-29
OpenCVESSVC decisionactive—
CISA-ADPCVSS 3.172025-01-29
NVDCVSS 3.17read 2026-10-23
NVDCVSS 2.07.2read 2026-10-23
CISA-ADPweakness (CWE)CWE-3622025-01-29
NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-362read 2026-10-23
FIRST EPSSEPSS score83.5 %read 2026-10-23
PoC-in-GitHubproof of concept20read 2026-10-23

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
Published: 2016-11-10
Last Modified: 2026-06-17
NVD status: Analyzed

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-5195?

Is CVE-2016-5195 actively exploited?

Yes. CVE-2016-5195 is on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog, meaning it has been confirmed as actively exploited in the wild. CISA requires federal agencies to patch by 2022-03-24.

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

CVE-2016-5195 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

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