What is CVE-2016-6213?

CVE-2016-6213 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.7 out of 10, classified as a Uncontrolled Resource Consumption flaw (CWE-400). CVE-2016-6213 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2016-6213?

CVE-2016-6213 has a CVSS score of 4.7 out of 10, rated Medium severity. The vector string is CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

Is there a patch available for CVE-2016-6213?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2016-6213. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.

Is CVE-2016-6213 actively exploited?

CVE-2016-6213 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

What is Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)?

The product does not properly control the amount of resources it consumes, leading to exhaustion. See MITRE CWE for full details: https://cwe.mitre.org/data/definitions/400.html

CVE-2016-6213

Medium

fs/namespace.c in the Linux kernel before 4.9 does not restrict how many mounts may exist in a mount namespace, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and deadlock) via MS_BIND mount system calls, as demonstrated by a loop that triggers exponential growth in the number of mounts.

Package Linux Kernel

Published 2016-12-28

Last modified 2026-05-06

CVSS version 3.0

Patch available

Awaiting data

CVSS 3.0 score

4.7

out of 10

Medium

Attack Vector

Local

Attack Complexity

High

Privileges Required

Low

User Interaction

None

Scope

Unchanged

Confidentiality

High

Integrity

None

Availability

High

Vector string

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Weakness type

CWE-400

CVE-2016-6213 is a Uncontrolled Resource Consumption vulnerability

What is Uncontrolled Resource Consumption?

The product does not properly control the amount of resources it consumes, leading to exhaustion. Learn more on MITRE CWE

References

The following references provide additional information about CVE-2016-6213 including vendor advisories, patch commits, exploit details, and third-party analysis. Links are sourced from the NIST NVD database.

Openwall
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/07/13/8

Mailing List
Securityfocus
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91754
Red Hat
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1842
Red Hat
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2077
Red Hat
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1356471

Issue Tracking
Kernel patch commit
http://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/commit/?id=d29216842a85c7970c536108e093963f02714498
Patch
Kernel patch commit
https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/d29216842a85c7970c536108e093963f02714498
Patch

Details

CVE ID CVE-2016-6213

Severity Medium

CVSS score 4.7 / 10

CVSS version 3.0

Published 2016-12-28

Modified 2026-05-06

KEV No

Patch Awaiting data

Package linux

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-6213?

CVE-2016-6213 is a Medium severity Linux kernel vulnerability with a CVSS score of 4.7 out of 10 , classified as an Uncontrolled Resource Consumption flaw (CWE-400) . CVE-2016-6213 has not been confirmed as actively exploited and is not listed in the CISA KEV catalog.
What is the CVSS score for CVE-2016-6213?

CVE-2016-6213 has a CVSS score of 4.7 out of 10, rated Medium severity (CVSS 3.0). The vector string is CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.
Is there a patch available for CVE-2016-6213?

No patch is currently available for CVE-2016-6213. Monitor the NIST NVD and your Linux distribution's security advisories for updates.
Is CVE-2016-6213 actively exploited?

No — CVE-2016-6213 has not been confirmed as actively exploited. It is not listed in the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog.
What is Uncontrolled Resource Consumption (CWE-400)?

The product does not properly control the amount of resources it consumes, leading to exhaustion. View CWE-400 on MITRE CWE →