Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2016-7916

medium Nessus Plugin ID 219857

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Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- Race condition in the environ_read function in fs/proc/base.c in the Linux kernel before 4.5.4 allows local users to obtain sensitive information from kernel memory by reading a /proc/*/environ file during a process-setup time interval in which environment-variable copying is incomplete. (CVE-2016-7916)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 219857

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2016_7916.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 8/4/2025

Supported Sensors: Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Nessus Agent, Agentless Assessment, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Low

Score: 3.6

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.7

Temporal Score: 3.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2016-7916

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.5

Temporal Score: 4.8

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kernel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel-rt, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kernel

Required KB Items: Host/local_checks_enabled, Host/cpu, global_settings/vendor_unpatched, Host/OS/identifier

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 11/7/2016

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2016-7916

Detections

Analytics