pt_chown in the glibc package before 2.19-18+deb8u4 on Debian jessie; the elibc package before 2.15-0ubuntu10.14 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and before 2.19-0ubuntu6.8 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS; and the glibc package before 2.21-0ubuntu4.2 on Ubuntu 15.10 and before 2.23-0ubuntu1 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and 16.10 lacks a namespace check associated with file-descriptor passing, which allows local users to capture keystrokes and spoof data, and possibly gain privileges, via pts read and write operations, related to debian/sysdeps/linux.mk
Published Mar 14, 2016
8.4
HIGHCVSS 3.0
EPSS 1.03%
Description
pt_chown in the glibc package before 2.19-18+deb8u4 on Debian jessie; the elibc package before 2.15-0ubuntu10.14 on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and before 2.19-0ubuntu6.8 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS; and the glibc package before 2.21-0ubuntu4.2 on Ubuntu 15.10 and before 2.23-0ubuntu1 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and 16.10 lacks a namespace check associated with file-descriptor passing, which allows local users to capture keystrokes and spoof data, and possibly gain privileges, via pts read and write operations, related to debian/sysdeps/linux.mk. NOTE: this is not considered a vulnerability in the upstream GNU C Library because the upstream documentation has a clear security recommendation against the --enable-pt_chown option.
Affected products
No data.
Configuration 1
- 12.04
- 14.04
- 15.10
Configuration 2
- 8.0
No data.
No Red Hat product state for this CVE.
No package ranges for this CVE.
Remediation
No remediation recorded yet.
Metrics
No CVSS v4.0 score for this CVE.
No CVSS v3.1 score for this CVE.
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
This CVE is not in the KEV list.
No CISA SSVC assessment for this CVE yet.
Estimated probability of exploitation in the wild in the next 30 days (FIRST EPSS). As of Oct 1, 2026.
Score over time
2022–2026- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Percentile over time
- EPSS v2
- EPSS v3
- EPSS v4
- EPSS v5
Table of values (9 key points)
Flat stretches are collapsed; showing up to 120 newest points.
| Date | Score | Percentile | Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | 1.03% (0.01029) | 62.37th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Jun 15, 2026 | 1.08% (0.01081) | 60.67th | v5 (v2026.06.15) |
| Mar 17, 2025 | 0.71% (0.00715) | 70.67th | v4 (v2025.03.14) |
| Dec 12, 2024 | 0.18% (0.00184) | 56.94th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Jun 25, 2024 | 0.18% (0.00184) | 55.83th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 7, 2023 | 0.18% (0.00184) | 53.82th | v3 (v2023.03.01) |
| Mar 6, 2023 | 4.08% (0.04078) | 85.98th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Apr 1, 2022 | 4.08% (0.04078) | 84.57th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
| Feb 4, 2022 | 4.08% (0.04078) | 68.02th | v2 (v2022.01.01) |
References (9)
- http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-glibc/glibc.git/commit/?h=jessie&id=09f7764882a81e13e7b5d87d715412283a6ce403 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-glibc/glibc.git/commit/?h=jessie&id=11475c083282c1582c4dd72eecfcb2b7d308c958 x_refsource_CONFIRM
- http://people.canonical.com/~ubuntu-security/cve/2016/CVE-2016-2856.html x_refsource_CONFIRM
- http://www.halfdog.net/Security/2015/PtChownArbitraryPtsAccessViaUserNamespace/ x_refsource_MISC
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/23/3 mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/03/07/2 mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/84601 vdb-entryx_refsource_BID
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2985-1 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2985-2 vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU
| Link | Providers | Tags |
|---|---|---|
| http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-glibc/glibc.git/commit/?h=jessie&id=09f7764882a81e13e7b5d87d715412283a6ce403 | x_refsource_CONFIRM | |
| http://anonscm.debian.org/cgit/pkg-glibc/glibc.git/commit/?h=jessie&id=11475c083282c1582c4dd72eecfcb2b7d308c958 | x_refsource_CONFIRM | |
| http://people.canonical.com/~ubuntu-security/cve/2016/CVE-2016-2856.html | x_refsource_CONFIRM | |
| http://www.halfdog.net/Security/2015/PtChownArbitraryPtsAccessViaUserNamespace/ | x_refsource_MISC | |
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/23/3 | mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST | |
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/03/07/2 | mailing-listx_refsource_MLIST | |
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/84601 | vdb-entryx_refsource_BID | |
| http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2985-1 | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU | |
| http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2985-2 | vendor-advisoryx_refsource_UBUNTU |
Change history (0)
No recorded changes yet.