CVE & CISA-KEV Catalog

CVE-2016-1981

MEDIUM
5.5
CVSS v3
NVD

Description

QEMU (aka Quick Emulator) built with the e1000 NIC emulation support is vulnerable to an infinite loop issue. It could occur while processing data via transmit or receive descriptors, provided the initial receive/transmit descriptor head (TDH/RDH) is set outside the allocated descriptor buffer. A privileged user inside guest could use this flaw to crash the QEMU instance resulting in DoS.

CWE-835

How to fix

Remediation Available
qemuDebian
Fixed in:1:2.5+dfsg-5CVE-2016-1981
Fixed in:1:2.5+dfsg-5CVE-2016-1981
Fixed in:1:2.5+dfsg-5CVE-2016-1981
Fixed in:1:2.5+dfsg-5CVE-2016-1981
qemuUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-systemUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-aarch64Ubuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-armUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-mipsUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-miscUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-ppcUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-sparcUbuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1
qemu-system-x86Ubuntu
Fixed in:2.0.0+dfsg-2ubuntu1.22USN-2891-1

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

Exploit Intelligence

0.44%probability of exploitation in 30 days
36thpercentile

Low risk: more likely to be exploited than 36% of all known CVEs.

References

Issue Tracking1

Related Vulnerabilities

Other CWE-835 vulnerabilities, ordered by exploit likelihood. View all

CVESeverityCVSSEPSSExploitedFix
CVE-2020-13935High7.588%-Fix
CVE-2020-36227High7.578%-Fix
CVE-2022-0778High7.571%-Fix
CVE-2019-14241High7.570%--
CVE-2017-16944High7.563%-Fix
CVE-2024-20353High8.663%KEV-
Embed a live status badge for CVE-2016-1981
CVE-2016-1981 severity badge

Markdown

[![CVE-2016-1981](https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2016-1981.svg)](https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2016-1981)

HTML

<a href="https://tridentstack.com/cve/CVE-2016-1981"><img src="https://tridentstack.com/cve/badge/CVE-2016-1981.svg" alt="CVE-2016-1981"></a>

Find and fix vulnerabilities across your fleet

TridentStack Control continuously scans your Windows, macOS, and Linux fleet for known vulnerabilities, prioritizes them by severity and active exploitation, and patches them automatically.

Start free

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.