How severe is CVE-2016-1981?

CVE-2016-1981 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2016-1981 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (36th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2016-1981?

CVE-2016-1981 primarily affects Qemu. In total, 3 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2016-1981?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.

When was CVE-2016-1981 published?

CVE-2016-1981 was published on 2016-12-29 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2016-1981

CVE-2016-1981 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Qemu with a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-835.

Key facts

Severity: Medium (CVSS 3.x base score 5.5)
CVSS v2: 2.1
EPSS exploit prediction: 0% (36th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-835
Affected product: Qemu
Published: 2016-12-29
Last modified: 2026-06-17

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.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-1981?: 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.
How severe is CVE-2016-1981?: CVE-2016-1981 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 5.5, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2016-1981 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 0% (36th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2016-1981?: CVE-2016-1981 primarily affects Qemu. In total, 3 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2016-1981?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2016-1981 published?: CVE-2016-1981 was published on 2016-12-29 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (3)

cpe:2.3:a:qemu:qemu:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Qemu

CVE-2022-36648 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): The hardware emulation in the of_dpa_cmd_add_l2_flood of rocker device model in QEMU, as used in 7.0.0 and earlier,…
CVE-2017-16845 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): hw/input/ps2.c in Qemu does not validate 'rptr' and 'count' values during guest migration, leading to out-of-bounds…
CVE-2015-8556 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Local privilege escalation vulnerability in the Gentoo QEMU package before 2.5.0-r1.
CVE-2009-3616 — Critical (CVSS 9.9): Multiple use-after-free vulnerabilities in vnc.c in the VNC server in QEMU 0.10.6 and earlier might allow guest OS…
CVE-2019-12929 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The QMP guest_exec command in QEMU 4.0.0 and earlier is prone to OS command injection, which allows the attacker to…
CVE-2019-12928 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The QMP migrate command in QEMU version 4.0.0 and earlier is vulnerable to OS command injection, which allows the…

All CVEs affecting Qemu →

Other CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition (Infinite Loop)) vulnerabilities

CVE-2026-24816 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition ('Infinite Loop') vulnerability in datavane tis…
CVE-2018-20784 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): In the Linux kernel before 4.20.2, kernel/sched/fair.c mishandles leaf cfs_rq's, which allows attackers to cause a…
CVE-2017-12997 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The LLDP parser in tcpdump before 4.9.2 could enter an infinite loop due to a bug in…
CVE-2017-12995 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The DNS parser in tcpdump before 4.9.2 could enter an infinite loop due to a bug in print-domain.c:ns_print().
CVE-2017-12990 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The ISAKMP parser in tcpdump before 4.9.2 could enter an infinite loop due to bugs in print-isakmp.c, several functions.
CVE-2026-31448 — Critical (CVSS 9.4): In the Linux kernel, the following vulnerability has been resolved: ext4: avoid infinite loops caused by residual…

Browse all CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition (Infinite Loop)) vulnerabilities →