Linux KernelOperating system · Linux
CVE-2016-10723
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedAn issue was discovered in the Linux kernel through 4.17.2. Since the page allocator does not yield CPU resources to the owner of the oom_lock mutex, a local unprivileged user can trivially lock up the system forever by wasting CPU resources from the page allocator (e.g., via concurrent page fault events) when the global OOM killer is invoked. NOTE: the software maintainer has not accepted certain proposed patches, in part because of a viewpoint that "the underlying problem is non-trivial to handle.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceThe Linux kernel page allocator fails to yield CPU resources to the owner of the oom_lock mutex when the global OOM killer is invoked. A local unprivileged user can exploit this by triggering concurrent page fault events to consume all available CPU resources, causing a permanent system lockup (Denial of Service).
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Linux KernelOperating system
<= 4.17.2CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- 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
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Identify kernel versionRun `uname -r` or `cat /proc/version` to get the running kernel versionAffected if The version is 4.17.2 or earlier (e.g., 4.17.0, 4.16.x, 4.15.x, etc.)
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Check if OOM killer is enabledCheck the OOM configuration: `cat /proc/sys/vm/panic_on_oom` (0 = OOM killer enabled, 1 or 2 = disabled)Affected if The value is 0, meaning the OOM killer is active and the vulnerable code path can be triggered
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Verify overcommit memory settingsCheck memory overcommit behavior: `cat /proc/sys/vm/overcommit_memory`. A value of 0 (default) or 1 allows overcommit, increasing the chance of OOM conditionsAffected if Overcommit is enabled (0 or 1), which makes OOM triggers more likely
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Assess local user accessCheck for the presence of unprivileged accounts using `grep '^[^:]*:[^:]*:[0-9]' /etc/passwd` or by confirming multi-user functionality with `who`Affected if Unprivileged local users exist and can execute processes, providing a vector to trigger the vulnerable code path
A system is affected if it runs Linux Kernel 4.17.2 or earlier, has the OOM killer enabled, and permits unprivileged local user access, allowing the oom_lock mutex bug to be exploited for CPU exhaustion.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataApply kernel updates if available; otherwise, mitigate via cgroup resource limits, restricting local user access, or kernel parameter tuning to limit OOM-triggered behavior. The upstream fix is complex and has not been accepted by maintainers.
Fix this in Linux Kernel
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation32.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA12.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $18,432.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10723 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-10723 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.
- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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