CVE-2015-8709
Kernel: ptrace: potential privilege escalation in user namespaces
Severity
ImportantRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 2.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · December 12, 2015
Updated · November 22, 2025
Description
A privilege-escalation vulnerability was discovered in the Linux kernel built with User Namespace (CONFIG_USER_NS) support. The flaw occurred when the ptrace() system call was used on a root-owned process to enter a user namespace. A privileged namespace user could exploit this flaw to potentially escalate their privileges on the system, outside the original namespace.
Statement
This issue does not affect the versions of the kernel package as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6, 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG 2.
CVSS score applicability
The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.
Mitigation
No mitigation is specified in collected source.
CVSS / CWE
CVSS 2.0 · 6AV:L/AC:H/Au:S/C:C/I:C/A:C
CWE-271 · Privilege Dropping / Lowering Errors