Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2016-2391

The ohci_bus_start function in the USB OHCI emulation support (hw/usb/hcd-ohci.c) in QEMU allows local guest OS administrators to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and QEMU process crash) via vectors related to multiple eof_timers.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.0, requiring local system access to exploit with relatively low complexity though user interaction is required requiring only low-level privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 3 products from qemu, from canonical, from debian organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2016, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2016-06-16T18:59:03.187

Last Modified

2025-04-12T10:46:40.837

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.1: 5.0 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: LOCAL
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: NONE
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

3.9

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-476

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	qemu	qemu	≤ 2.5.1.1	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	15.10	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes

References

http://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=fa1298c2d623522eda7b4f1f721fcb935abb7360 ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/16/2 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/83263 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2974-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1304794 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00038.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-02/msg03374.html Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://git.qemu.org/?p=qemu.git%3Ba=commit%3Bh=fa1298c2d623522eda7b4f1f721fcb935abb7360 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/02/16/2 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/83263 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2974-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1304794 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/11/msg00038.html Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/qemu-devel/2016-02/msg03374.html Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For qemu's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.