CVE-2015-8952

Summary

CVECVE-2015-8952
StatePUBLISHED
Assignermitre
Source PriorityCVE Program / NVD first with legacy fallback
Published2016-10-16 21:59:01 UTC
Updated2026-05-06 22:30:45 UTC
DescriptionThe mbcache feature in the ext2 and ext4 filesystem implementations in the Linux kernel before 4.6 mishandles xattr block caching, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (soft lockup) via filesystem operations in environments that use many attributes, as demonstrated by Ceph and Samba.

Risk And Classification

Primary CVSS: v3.0 5.5 MEDIUM from [email protected]

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

EPSS: 0.000770000 probability, percentile 0.228640000 (date 2026-05-07)

Problem Types: CWE-19 | n/a


VersionSourceTypeScoreSeverityVector
3.0[email protected]Primary5.5MEDIUMCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
2.0[email protected]Primary2.1AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

CVSS v3.0 Breakdown

Attack Vector
Local
Attack Complexity
Low
Privileges Required
Low
User Interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

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

CVSS v2.0 Breakdown

Access Vector
Local
Access Complexity
Low
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
Partial

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

NVD Known Affected Configurations (CPE 2.3)

TypeVendorProductVersionUpdateEditionLanguage
Operating System Linux Linux Kernel All All All All

Vendor Declared Affected Products

SourceVendorProductVersionPlatforms
CNA Na N/a affected n/a Not specified

References

ReferenceSourceLinkTags
kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 git.kernel.org Patch
107301 – system hang during ext4 xattr operation af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 bugzilla.kernel.org Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
USN-3582-2: Linux kernel (Xenial HWE) vulnerabilities | Ubuntu security notices af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 usn.ubuntu.com
ext4: convert to mbcache2 · torvalds/linux@82939d7 · GitHub af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 github.com Vendor Advisory
oss-security - Re: CVE request: Linux kernel mbcache lock contention denial of service. af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.openwall.com Patch, Third Party Advisory
oss-security - CVE request: Linux kernel mbcache lock contention denial of service. af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 www.openwall.com Third Party Advisory
kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 git.kernel.org Patch
mbcache2: reimplement mbcache · torvalds/linux@f9a61eb · GitHub af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 github.com Issue Tracking
kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git - Linux kernel source tree af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 git.kernel.org Patch
ext2: convert to mbcache2 · torvalds/linux@be0726d · GitHub af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 github.com Issue Tracking, Patch
Bug 1360968 – CVE-2015-8952 kernel: mbcache code subject to softlockup DOS in cache management af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 bugzilla.redhat.com Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
USN-3582-1: Linux kernel vulnerabilities | Ubuntu security notices af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 usn.ubuntu.com
ext[24]: MBCache rewrite [LWN.net] af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108 lwn.net Third Party Advisory
CVE Program record CVE.ORG www.cve.org canonical
NVD vulnerability detail NVD nvd.nist.gov canonical, analysis

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