What is CVE-2019-16231?

CVE-2019-16231 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 4.1/10. Published 2019-09-11.

How severe is CVE-2019-16231?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.1 out of 10.

Is CVE-2019-16231 known to be exploited?

1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

NULL pointer dereference in Linux Kernel

CVE-2019-16231

drivers/net/fjes/fjes_main.c in the Linux kernel 5.2.14 does not check the alloc_workqueue return value, leading to a NULL pointer dereference.

Published 2019-09-11 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 4.1 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (34.1th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 34th percentile — 34.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Linux Kernel — versions 5.2.14
Canonical Ubuntu Linux — versions 14.04, 16.04, 18.04
openSUSE Leap — versions 15.0, 15.1
Red Hat Enterprise Linux — versions 7.0, 8.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

Public proof-of-concept exploits

ARPSyndicate/cvemon

References

lkml.org/lkml/2019/9/9/487 (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20191004-0001/ (Third Party Advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00035.html (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-11/msg00039.html (vendor-advisory, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4227-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4226-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4225-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4227-2/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
usn.ubuntu.com/4225-2/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2019-16231?: CVE-2019-16231 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Linux Kernel, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 4.1/10. Published 2019-09-11.
How severe is CVE-2019-16231?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 4.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2019-16231 known to be exploited?: 1 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.