VYPR
← All advisories
High severity7.3NVD Advisory· Published Aug 6, 2016· Updated May 6, 2026

CVE-2016-3841

CVE-2016-3841

Description

A use-after-free in the Linux kernel's IPv6 stack allows local privilege escalation or system crash via a crafted sendmsg call.

AI Insight

LLM-synthesized narrative grounded in this CVE's description and references.

A use-after-free in the Linux kernel's IPv6 stack allows local privilege escalation or system crash via a crafted sendmsg call.

Vulnerability

The Linux kernel's IPv6 stack before version 4.3.3 mishandles options data, allowing a use-after-free condition. A local attacker can exploit this by crafting a sendmsg system call with concurrent socket option access. Affected versions include Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 (kernel 2.6.32) and 7 (kernel 3.10.0) before the updates in RHSA-2016-0855 [1] and RHSA-2016-2574 [2], as well as Android devices running kernels older than the August 2016 security bulletin [3].

Exploitation

An attacker with local access to the system can trigger the vulnerability by sending a specially crafted sendmsg call. The issue arises from concurrent access to IPv6 socket options, leading to a use-after-free condition. No additional authentication beyond local user access is required, though the attacker must be able to execute code on the target system [4].

Impact

Successful exploitation can result in local privilege escalation, allowing the attacker to gain elevated privileges, or cause a denial of service through a system crash. The use-after-free memory corruption can be leveraged to execute arbitrary code in kernel context, depending on the attacker's skill [1][4].

Mitigation

Red Hat released updates in RHSA-2016-0855 (RHEL 6) and RHSA-2016-2574 (RHEL 7) to address this issue [1][2]. Additionally, RHSA-2016-2695 was provided for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2 Extended Update Support [4]. Google's August 2016 Android Security Bulletin includes patches for affected Android devices [3]. System administrators should apply the relevant kernel updates and reboot the system. There is no known workaround besides updating.

References
  1. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0855.html
  2. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2574.html
  3. Android Security Bulletin—August 2016
  4. http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2695.html

AI Insight generated on May 23, 2026. Synthesized from this CVE's description and the cited reference URLs; citations are validated against the source bundle.

Affected products

67

Patches

0

No patches discovered yet.

Vulnerability mechanics

AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.

References

9

News mentions

0

No linked articles in our index yet.