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CVE-2016-9915

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS...

6.5 MediumFix available

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Attack profile

How easy it is to exploit

Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges needed
Low
User interaction
None

What an attacker can affect

Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

Exploit likelihood

0.44%Down 0.6 points since Feb 4, 2022
90%50%10%1%

What each source reports

NVD Score used 6.5

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
CVE-2016-9915
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 2.0
4.9 MediumAV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C
Weakness
CWE-401
Updated
2026-11-02
CVE List No score

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
CVE-2016-9915
Updated
2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2016-10702 No score

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
EUVD-2016-10702
Updated
2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-qmgf-9w4w-q3mj 6.5

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS...

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
GHSA-qmgf-9w4w-q3mj
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Weakness
CWE-401
Updated
2026-11-02
OSV 6.5

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
CVE-2016-9915
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2016-9915 6.5

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2016-9915
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUBUNTU-CVE-2016-9915 6.5

Memory leak in hw/9pfs/9p-handle.c in QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) allows local privileged guest OS users to cause a denial of service (host memory consumption and possibly QEMU process crash) by leveraging a missing cleanup operation in the handle backend.

Record
UBUNTU-CVE-2016-9915
CVSS 3.1
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
CVSS 3.0
6.5 MediumCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:N/A:H
Updated
2026-11-02
OSVUSN-3261-1 No score

qemu vulnerabilities

Zhenhao Hong discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the Virtio GPU device. An attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10. (CVE-2016-10028, CVE-2016-10029)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the 6300esb watchdog. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2016-10155)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the i.MX Fast Ethernet Controller. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10. (CVE-2016-7907)

It was discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the JAZZ RC4030 device. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2016-8667)

It was discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the 16550A UART device. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2016-8669)

It was discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the shared rings when used with Xen. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code on the host. (CVE-2016-9381)

Jann Horn discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled VirtFS directory sharing. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to access files on the host file system outside of the shared directory and possibly escalate their privileges. In the default installation, when QEMU is used with libvirt, attackers would be isolated by the libvirt AppArmor profile. (CVE-2016-9602)

Gerd Hoffmann discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the Cirrus VGA device when being used with a VNC connection. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code on the host. In the default installation, when QEMU is used with libvirt, attackers would be isolated by the libvirt AppArmor profile. (CVE-2016-9603)

It was discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the ColdFire Fast Ethernet Controller. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2016-9776)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the Virtio GPU device. An attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to leak contents of host memory. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10. (CVE-2016-9845, CVE-2016-9908)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the Virtio GPU device. An attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10. (CVE-2016-9846, CVE-2016-9912, CVE-2017-5552, CVE-2017-5578, CVE-2017-5857)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the USB redirector. An attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. This issue only affected Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10. (CVE-2016-9907)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled USB EHCI emulation. An attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2016-9911)

Li Qiang discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled VirtFS directory sharing. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service. (CVE-2016-9913, CVE-2016-9914, CVE-2016-9915, CVE-2016-9916)

Qinghao Tang, Li Qiang, and Jiangxin discovered that QEMU incorrectly handled the Cirrus VGA device. A privileged attacker inside the guest could use this issue to cause QEMU to crash, resulting in a denial of service.…

Record
USN-3261-1
Updated
2026-11-02

Affected products

Affected packages

Affected packages
PackageAffectedFixed
qemu
Debian:12
before 1:2.8+dfsg-1
1:2.8+dfsg-1
qemu
Debian:13
before 1:2.8+dfsg-1
1:2.8+dfsg-1
qemu
Debian:14
before 1:2.8+dfsg-1
1:2.8+dfsg-1
qemu
Debian:8
From an advisory covering 52 CVEs
before 1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u7, plus listed versions
1:2.1+dfsg-111:2.1+dfsg-121:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u11:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u21:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u3
Show 7 moreShow less
1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u41:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u4~bpo70+11:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u51:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u5a1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u5a~bpo70+11:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u61:2.1+dfsg-12~bpo70+1
1:2.1+dfsg-12+deb8u7
qemu
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS
before 2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.33, plus listed versions
1.5.0+dfsg-3ubuntu51.5.0+dfsg-3ubuntu61.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu11.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu21.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu3
Show 45 moreShow less
1.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu41.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu11.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu21.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu31.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu41.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu51.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu71.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu81.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu91.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu1~ppa11.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu11.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu21.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu31.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu41.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu51.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu61.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu72.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu12.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu22.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu32.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu3.12.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu12.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.12.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.32.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.52.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.62.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.72.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.82.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.92.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.102.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.112.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.132.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.142.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.152.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.162.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.172.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.182.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.192.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.202.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.212.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.222.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.242.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.252.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.26
2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.33
qemu
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS
before 1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11, plus listed versions
1:2.3+dfsg-5ubuntu91:2.3+dfsg-5ubuntu101:2.4+dfsg-4ubuntu11:2.4+dfsg-4ubuntu21:2.4+dfsg-4ubuntu3
Show 21 moreShow less
1:2.4+dfsg-5ubuntu31:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu21:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu31:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu41:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu51:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu11:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu21:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu41:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu61:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu71:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu101:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.21:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.31:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.41:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.51:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.61:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.71:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.81:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.91:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.10
1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11
qemu
Ubuntu:14.04:LTS
From an advisory covering 37 CVEs
before 2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.33, plus listed versions
1.5.0+dfsg-3ubuntu51.5.0+dfsg-3ubuntu61.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu11.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu21.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu3
Show 45 moreShow less
1.6.0+dfsg-2ubuntu41.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu11.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu21.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu31.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu41.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu51.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu71.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu81.7.0+dfsg-2ubuntu91.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu1~ppa11.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu11.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu21.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu31.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu41.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu51.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu61.7.0+dfsg-3ubuntu72.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu12.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu22.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu32.0.0~rc1+dfsg-0ubuntu3.12.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu12.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.12.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.32.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.52.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.62.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.72.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.82.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.92.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.102.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.112.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.132.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.142.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.152.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.162.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.172.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.182.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.192.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.202.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.212.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.222.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.242.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.252.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.26
2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.33
qemu
Ubuntu:16.04:LTS
From an advisory covering 37 CVEs
before 1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11, plus listed versions
1:2.3+dfsg-5ubuntu91:2.3+dfsg-5ubuntu101:2.4+dfsg-4ubuntu11:2.4+dfsg-4ubuntu21:2.4+dfsg-4ubuntu3
Show 21 moreShow less
1:2.4+dfsg-5ubuntu31:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu21:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu31:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu41:2.5+dfsg-1ubuntu51:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu11:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu21:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu41:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu61:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu71:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu101:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.21:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.31:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.41:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.51:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.61:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.71:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.81:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.91:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.10
1:2.5+dfsg-5ubuntu10.11

History

History
RecordedChangedSources
affected, facts
aliasesEUVD
first indexedCVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV

Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.

In short

CVE-2016-9915 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 6.5) in Qemu, published December 29, 2016. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.44%, the 38th percentile. Fixed in qemu 1:2.8+dfsg-1.

References

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This page doesn't list everything

Left out here: 12 versions and the rest of 1 source description. The JSON record has them.

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