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CVE-2016-0728 is a local privilege escalation and denial-of-service vulnerability in the Linux kernel keyring subsystem affecting kernels before 4.4.1. The flaw is in the join_session_keyring function in security/keys/process_keys.c, where object references are mishandled in a specific error path. This reference-counting bug can lead to an integer overflow and subsequent use-after-free condition when processing crafted keyctl requests. A local user can trigger the vulnerable code path by issuing crafted keyctl commands that manipulate session keyrings and exercise the erroneous reference handling logic.
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1 valid exploit after Mallory filtered fakes, detection scripts, and README-only repos (2 hidden).
This repository contains a single exploit implementation for CVE-2016-0728, a local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Linux kernel keyring facility. The main file, 'cve_2016_0728.c', is a C program that exploits a reference count overflow in the keyring subsystem to execute arbitrary code in kernel space. The exploit works by manipulating keyring objects and message queues to overwrite kernel structures, ultimately calling commit_creds(prepare_kernel_cred(0)) to grant root privileges to the current process. Upon success, it spawns a root shell (/bin/sh). The exploit requires local access to the target system and a vulnerable kernel version. The repository is minimal, containing only the exploit code, a README, a license, and a .gitignore file. No network endpoints or remote attack vectors are present; the exploit is strictly local.
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A Linux vulnerability mentioned as a cautionary example to illustrate real-world risk on Linux platforms; the article does not provide technical details beyond that.
A Linux kernel vulnerability mentioned as a cautionary example to illustrate Linux platform risk exposure.
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Cross-references every affected SKU, including bundled OEM variants.
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