OpenstackApplication · Redhat
CVE-2016-1568
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 · uneditedUse-after-free vulnerability in hw/ide/ahci.c in QEMU, when built with IDE AHCI Emulation support, allows guest OS users to cause a denial of service (instance crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via an invalid AHCI Native Command Queuing (NCQ) AIO command.
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 confidenceUse-after-free vulnerability in QEMU's IDE AHCI emulation (hw/ide/ahci.c) allows a malicious guest to crash the QEMU instance or potentially execute arbitrary code on the host by sending specially crafted invalid AHCI Native Command Queuing (NCQ) AIO commands. The flaw occurs when memory is deallocated but subsequently accessed, creating a window for exploitation.
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
OpenstackApplication
= 6.0= 7.0= 5.0
VirtualizationApplication
= 3.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0= 8.0<= 2.5.1.1CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:H/I:H/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 QEMU versionRun `qemu-system-x86_64 --version` or check the installed qemu package version using your system's package manager (e.g., `rpm -q qemu-kvm` or `dpkg -l qemu*`)Affected if The version is 2.5.1.1 or lower, or falls within the Red Hat/Debian affected versions listed in the CVE
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Locate running QEMU processesUse `ps aux | grep qemu` or check your virtualization management platform to identify hypervisor hosts running QEMU instancesAffected if QEMU processes are running on the system
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Identify guests using IDE/AHCI storage controllersExamine guest VM configurations for emulated storage devices - look for 'ahci', 'ide', or ' SATA' controller types in the VM XML definition or management consoleAffected if Any guest VM is configured to use IDE or AHCI emulation for its disk storage
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Check for untrusted guest workloadsReview which guests are running untrusted or potentially malicious workloads, particularly those that could send specially crafted AHCI NCQ commandsAffected if Untrusted guests with IDE/AHCI storage are running on the affected QEMU version
A system is affected if it runs QEMU version 2.5.1.1 or lower and has guest VMs configured to use IDE/AHCI storage emulation with untrusted guest workloads.
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 dataUpdate QEMU to a version containing the fix (post-February 2016), or disable IDE AHCI emulation if not required in the guest configuration. For production environments, prioritize patching hypervisors running untrusted guest workloads.
Fix this in Openstack
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,936.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1568 — 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-2016-1568 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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