CVE-2016-7042
kernel: Stack corruption while reading /proc/keys when gcc stack protector is enabled
Severity
ModerateRed Hat Product Security
CVSS 3.0
Review impact separately from score.
Published · October 13, 2016
Updated · June 28, 2026
Description
It was found that when the gcc stack protector was enabled, reading the /proc/keys file could cause a panic in the Linux kernel due to stack corruption. This happened because an incorrect buffer size was used to hold a 64-bit timeout value rendered as weeks.
Statement
This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5. 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/.
This issue affects the Linux kernel packages as shipped with Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7 and Red Hat Enterprise MRG-2. Future Linux kernel updates for the respective releases might address this issue.
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 3.0 · 5.5CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.0 · 4.9AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
CWE-121 · Stack-based Buffer Overflow