CVE Vulnerabilities

CVE-2016-8666

Uncontrolled Resource Consumption

Published: Oct 16, 2016 | Modified: Apr 12, 2025
CVSS 3.x
7.5
HIGH
Source:
NVD
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.x
7.8 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
RedHat/V2
7.1 IMPORTANT
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
RedHat/V3
7.5 IMPORTANT
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Ubuntu
MEDIUM

The IP stack in the Linux kernel before 4.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack consumption and panic) or possibly have unspecified other impact by triggering use of the GRO path for packets with tunnel stacking, as demonstrated by interleaved IPv4 headers and GRE headers, a related issue to CVE-2016-7039.

Weakness

The product does not properly control the allocation and maintenance of a limited resource.

Affected Software

Name Vendor Start Version End Version
Linux_kernel Linux 3.14 (including) 3.16.35 (excluding)
Linux_kernel Linux 3.17 (including) 3.18.47 (excluding)
Linux_kernel Linux 3.19 (including) 4.1.38 (excluding)
Linux_kernel Linux 4.2 (including) 4.4.29 (excluding)
Linux_kernel Linux 4.5 (including) 4.6 (excluding)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat kernel-rt-0:3.10.0-327.36.3.rt56.238.el7 *
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat kernel-0:3.10.0-327.36.2.el7 *
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 RedHat kernel-aarch64-0:4.5.0-15.2.1.el7 *
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.1 Extended Update Support RedHat kernel-0:3.10.0-229.46.1.el7 *
Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2 RedHat kernel-rt-1:3.10.0-327.rt56.198.el6rt *
Linux Ubuntu esm-infra-legacy/trusty *
Linux Ubuntu esm-infra/xenial *
Linux Ubuntu trusty *
Linux Ubuntu trusty/esm *
Linux Ubuntu upstream *
Linux Ubuntu vivid/ubuntu-core *
Linux Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-armadaxp Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-aws Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-flo Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-flo Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-gke Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-goldfish Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-goldfish Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-grouper Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-grouper Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-hwe-edge Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-linaro-omap Ubuntu precise *
Linux-linaro-omap Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-linaro-shared Ubuntu precise *
Linux-linaro-shared Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-linaro-vexpress Ubuntu precise *
Linux-linaro-vexpress Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-quantal Ubuntu precise *
Linux-lts-quantal Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-raring Ubuntu precise *
Linux-lts-raring Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-saucy Ubuntu precise *
Linux-lts-saucy Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-trusty Ubuntu precise *
Linux-lts-trusty Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-utopic Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-lts-utopic Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-vivid Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-lts-vivid Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-wily Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-lts-wily Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu esm-infra-legacy/trusty *
Linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu trusty/esm *
Linux-lts-xenial Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-maguro Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-maguro Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-mako Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-mako Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-manta Ubuntu trusty *
Linux-manta Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-qcm-msm Ubuntu precise *
Linux-qcm-msm Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu vivid/ubuntu-core *
Linux-raspi2 Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-snapdragon Ubuntu upstream *
Linux-snapdragon Ubuntu xenial *
Linux-snapdragon Ubuntu yakkety *
Linux-ti-omap4 Ubuntu upstream *

Potential Mitigations

  • Mitigation of resource exhaustion attacks requires that the target system either:

  • The first of these solutions is an issue in itself though, since it may allow attackers to prevent the use of the system by a particular valid user. If the attacker impersonates the valid user, they may be able to prevent the user from accessing the server in question.

  • The second solution is simply difficult to effectively institute – and even when properly done, it does not provide a full solution. It simply makes the attack require more resources on the part of the attacker.

References