Is CVE-2015-8970 in the CISA KEV catalog?

No. CVE-2015-8970 is not currently on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities list.

What is the CVSS severity of CVE-2015-8970?

CVE-2015-8970 has a CVSS v3 base score of 5.5 (MEDIUM).

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2015-8970?

CVE-2015-8970 has an EPSS score of 0.50% (39th percentile), estimating the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

How do I fix CVE-2015-8970?

Upgrade linux on debian 11 to 4.4.2-1 or later.

CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2015-8970

MEDIUM

5.5

CVSS v3

NVD

Description

crypto/algif_skcipher.c in the Linux kernel before 4.4.2 does not verify that a setkey operation has been performed on an AF_ALG socket before an accept system call is processed, which allows local users to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and system crash) via a crafted application that does not supply a key, related to the lrw_crypt function in crypto/lrw.c.

CWE-476NULL Pointer Dereference

How to fix

Remediation Available

linuxDebian

Fixed in:4.4.2-1CVE-2015-8970

Remediation is compiled from vendor and distribution security advisories. Always confirm against the linked source for your exact version and platform.

CVSS v3 Vector

Exploitability

Attack VectorLocal

Attack ComplexityLow

Privileges RequiredLow

User InteractionNone

ScopeUnchanged

Impact

ConfidentialityNone

IntegrityNone

AvailabilityHigh

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Exploit Intelligence

0.50%probability of exploitation in 30 days

39thpercentile

Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 39% of all known CVEs.

References

Patch2

Third-Party Advisory2

Issue Tracking1

bugzilla.redhat.com

Release Notes1

kernel.org

Other references5

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference) vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVE	Severity	CVSS	EPSS	Exploited	Fix
CVE-2023-21758	High	7.5	92%	-	Fix
CVE-2023-21547	High	7.5	88%	-	Fix
CVE-2014-3470	Medium	4.3	86%	-	Fix
CVE-2021-44224	High	8.2	82%	-	Fix
CVE-2016-0742	High	7.5	82%	-	Fix
CVE-2009-1386	Medium	5.0	80%	-	Fix

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This product uses NVD data but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. EPSS scores courtesy of FIRST.org (https://www.first.org/epss). Source: CISA KEV Catalog. Data as of 2026-05-06.