CVE-2016-0723
kernel: Kernel memory disclosure and crash in tty layer
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 2.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · November 27, 2015
Updated · November 21, 2025
Description
A use-after-free flaw was discovered in the Linux kernel's tty subsystem, which allows for the disclosure of uncontrolled memory location and possible kernel panic. The information leak is caused by a race condition when attempting to set and read the tty line discipline. A local attacker could use the TIOCSETD (via tty_set_ldisc) to switch to a new line discipline; a concurrent call to a TIOCGETD ioctl performing a read on a given tty could then access previously allocated memory. Up to 4 bytes could be leaked when querying the line discipline or the kernel could panic with a NULL-pointer dereference.
Statement
This issue affects kernels in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, 6 and 7. This has been rated as having Moderate security impact and is not currently planned to be addressed in future updates. For additional information, refer to the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Life Cycle: https://access.redhat.com/support/policy/updates/errata/.
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 · 5.6AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:C
CWE-416 · Use After Free