CVE-2017-16531 — drivers/usb/core/config

drivers/usb/core/config.c in the Linux kernel before 4.13.6 allows local users to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted USB device, related to the USB_DT_INTERFACE_ASSOCIATION descriptor.

01What is this vulnerability?

drivers/usb/core/config.c in the Linux kernel before 4.13.6 allows local users to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read and system crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted USB device, related to the USB_DT_INTERFACE_ASSOCIATION descriptor.

02Affected products

No structured affected-product list available — see references below for vendor advisories.

03Active exploitation status

Not currently listed on the CISA Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog. EPSS is the best forward-looking signal — see the EPSS row above.

04Recommended remediation

• Patch to a fixed version listed in the vendor advisory (see references below).
• Mitigate with WAF rules, network egress filters, or feature flags where the patch is not yet available.
• Hunt historical logs for exploitation indicators — see Detection signatures below.

05Technical details

For the full vendor write-up, exploit chains, and reference implementations, see the references list in section 09.

06Detection signatures

Ask SARA in chat to draft a starting detection for this CVE in your stack of choice.

07Related CVEs

No directly-cited follow-up CVEs in the KB record for this advisory. The references list in section 09 carries the vendor cross-references.

08Timeline

• Published: 2017-11-04T01:29:36.943
• Last modified: 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033

09References

• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102025
• github.com — https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/bd7a3fe770ebd8391d1c7d072ff88e9e76d063e…
• groups.google.com — https://groups.google.com/d/msg/syzkaller/hP6L-m59m_8/Co2ouWeFAwAJ
• lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/12/msg00004.html
• usn.ubuntu.com — https://usn.ubuntu.com/3754-1/
• www.oracle.com — https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2019-5072832.html
• www.securityfocus.com — http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102025
• github.com — https://github.com/torvalds/linux/commit/bd7a3fe770ebd8391d1c7d072ff88e9e76d063e…
• groups.google.com — https://groups.google.com/d/msg/syzkaller/hP6L-m59m_8/Co2ouWeFAwAJ
• lists.debian.org — https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/12/msg00004.html