NULL pointer dereference in Linux kernel - CVE-2016-3070
Published: October 1, 2016 / Updated: December 8, 2025
Vulnerability identifier: #VU4070
CSH Severity: Low
CVSS v4: 6.8 [CVSS:4.0/AV:L/AC:L/AT:N/PR:L/UI:N/VC:N/VI:N/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N]
CVE-ID: CVE-2016-3070
CWE-ID: CWE-476
Exploitation vector: Local access
Exploit availability:
No public exploit available
Vulnerability details
The vulnerability allows a local user to perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.
The vulnerability exists due to a NULL pointer dereference error within the trace_writeback_dirty_page implementation in include/trace/events/writeback.h. A local user can perform a denial of service (DoS) attack.
Affected software
Linux kernel
SUSE Linux
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-lts-utopic (Ubuntu package)
linux-lts-vivid (Ubuntu package)
SUSE Linux
Ubuntu
linux (Ubuntu package)
linux-lts-utopic (Ubuntu package)
linux-lts-vivid (Ubuntu package)
How to mitigate CVE-2016-3070
Install update from vendor's website.
linux (Ubuntu package) - addressed in versions 3.13.0-92.139, 4.2.0-42.49
linux-lts-utopic (Ubuntu package) - update to 3.16.0-77.99~14.04.1
linux-lts-vivid (Ubuntu package) - update to 3.19.0-65.73~14.04.1
linux-lts-utopic (Ubuntu package) - update to 3.16.0-77.99~14.04.1
linux-lts-vivid (Ubuntu package) - update to 3.19.0-65.73~14.04.1