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CVE-2016-2856

37
FAUCET Score

CVE-2016-2856 is a high-severity vulnerability in the pt_chown component of the glibc package, affecting Debian and Ubuntu Linux distributions. It stems from a missing namespace check during file-descriptor passing, allowing local users to intercept keystrokes, spoof data, and potentially escalate privileges through pts read and write operations. With a CVSS score of 8.4 (High), this vulnerability is easily exploitable locally with low attack complexity, leading to high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability. While not actively exploited in the wild (KEV: No), a public exploit (EDB-41760) exists, though there is minimal community discussion or media coverage.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
12.04CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
14.04CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
15.10CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:15.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
8.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

8.4HIGH

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

Attack Vector
LOCAL
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
2.5
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
1.08%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
61.7%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
ExploitDB: EDB-41760 · Feb 22, 2016
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0108 is in the 80th percentile among its peer group of 3,237 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.0 Mastodon, and 0.5 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Remediation records are not available for this CVE.

References

anonscm.debian.org / cgit/pkg-glibc/glibc.git/commit
anonscm.debian.org / cgit/pkg-glibc/glibc.git/commit
people.canonical.com / ~ubuntu-security/cve/2016/CVE-2016-2856.html
halfdog.net / Security/2015/PtChownArbitraryPtsAccessViaUserNamespace
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2016/02/23/3
openwall.com / lists/oss-security/2016/03/07/2
securityfocus.com / bid/84601
ubuntu.com / usn/USN-2985-1
ubuntu.com / usn/USN-2985-2