---
title: 11 Year Old Linux Bug Allows Users to Root the System
description: The DirtyCOW vulnerability allows users to take over your system.
---

[SecureWorld News ](https://www.secureworld.io/industry-news)

# [11 Year Old Linux Bug Allows Users to Root the System](https://www.secureworld.io/industry-news/11-year-old-linux-bug-allows-users-to-root-the-system)

 Written by [SecureWorld News Team](https://www.secureworld.io/industry-news/author/secureworld-news-team) | Sun | Oct 23, 2016 | 7:00 AM Z

The DirtyCOW vulnerability allows users to take over your system.

[Sophos Explains:](https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/10/21/linux-kernel-bug-dirtycow-easyroot-hole-and-what-you-need-to-know/)

> Here comes what we’re calling a *bus-scenario BWAIN*.
> 
> DirtyCOW, as it’s been [satirically dubbed](https://dirtycow.ninja/), is a [kernel bug in Linux](https://lkml.org/lkml/2016/10/19/860) that’s been around for at least 11 years and as good as allows any existing user to turn themselves into the all-powerful system administrator known in the Linux world as *root*.
> 
> To explain: a *bus scenario* is where you don’t hear much about a particular security topic for a while, and then it comes up [twice in quick succession](https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2016/10/19/linux-kernel-bugs-we-add-them-in-and-then-take-years-to-get-them-out/), like those proverbial buses that keep you waiting for ages and then arrive in a bunch.
> 
> A [BWAIN](https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/?s=BWAIN) is a *Bug With An Impressive Name*, an attention-grabbing trick started by the infamous Heartbleed vulnerabiity.

[View full post](https://www.secureworld.io/industry-news/11-year-old-linux-bug-allows-users-to-root-the-system)

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