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8.1
HIGH CVSS 3.1
CVE-2016-4472
Expat XML Buffer Overflow Denial of Service/Arbitrary Code Execution
Description

The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716.

INFO

Published Date :

June 30, 2016, 5:59 p.m.

Last Modified :

April 12, 2025, 10:46 a.m.

Remotely Exploit :

Yes !

Source :

[email protected]
Affected Products

The following products are affected by CVE-2016-4472 vulnerability. Even if cvefeed.io is aware of the exact versions of the products that are affected, the information is not represented in the table below.

ID Vendor Product Action
1 Canonical ubuntu_linux
1 Python python
1 Libexpat_project libexpat
1 Mcafee policy_auditor
: Total Affected Vendor : 4 | Products : 4
CVSS Scores
The Common Vulnerability Scoring System is a standardized framework for assessing the severity of vulnerabilities in software and systems. We collect and displays CVSS scores from various sources for each CVE.
Score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Score Impact Score Source
CVSS 2.0 MEDIUM [email protected]
CVSS 3.1 HIGH [email protected]
Solution
This addresses multiple vulnerabilities by updating various affected packages to their latest versions.
  • Update all affected Expat packages to the latest versions.
  • Update all affected Python packages.
  • Upgrade to a patched IBM HTTP Server version.
Public PoC/Exploit Available at Github

CVE-2016-4472 has a 2 public PoC/Exploit available at Github. Go to the Public Exploits tab to see the list.

References to Advisories, Solutions, and Tools

Here, you will find a curated list of external links that provide in-depth information, practical solutions, and valuable tools related to CVE-2016-4472.

URL Resource
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21 Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20 Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1 Third Party Advisory
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21 Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde Patch Third Party Advisory
https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20 Third Party Advisory
CWE - Common Weakness Enumeration

While CVE identifies specific instances of vulnerabilities, CWE categorizes the common flaws or weaknesses that can lead to vulnerabilities. CVE-2016-4472 is associated with the following CWEs:

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC)

Common Attack Pattern Enumeration and Classification (CAPEC) stores attack patterns, which are descriptions of the common attributes and approaches employed by adversaries to exploit the CVE-2016-4472 weaknesses.

CAPEC-8: Buffer Overflow in an API Call Buffer Overflow in an API Call CAPEC-9: Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities Buffer Overflow in Local Command-Line Utilities CAPEC-10: Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables Buffer Overflow via Environment Variables CAPEC-14: Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow Client-side Injection-induced Buffer Overflow CAPEC-24: Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow Filter Failure through Buffer Overflow CAPEC-42: MIME Conversion MIME Conversion CAPEC-44: Overflow Binary Resource File Overflow Binary Resource File CAPEC-45: Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links Buffer Overflow via Symbolic Links CAPEC-46: Overflow Variables and Tags Overflow Variables and Tags CAPEC-47: Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion Buffer Overflow via Parameter Expansion CAPEC-100: Overflow Buffers Overflow Buffers CAPEC-123: Buffer Manipulation Buffer Manipulation

We scan GitHub repositories to detect new proof-of-concept exploits. Following list is a collection of public exploits and proof-of-concepts, which have been published on GitHub (sorted by the most recently updated).

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Results are limited to the first 15 repositories due to potential performance issues.

The following list is the news that have been mention CVE-2016-4472 vulnerability anywhere in the article.

Results are limited to the first 20 news articles due to potential performance issues.

The following table lists the changes that have been made to the CVE-2016-4472 vulnerability over time.

Vulnerability history details can be useful for understanding the evolution of a vulnerability, and for identifying the most recent changes that may impact the vulnerability's severity, exploitability, or other characteristics.

  • CVE Modified by af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108

    Nov. 21, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528
    Added Reference http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1
    Added Reference https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251
    Added Reference https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21
    Added Reference https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde
    Added Reference https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    May. 14, 2024

    Action Type Old Value New Value
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Nov. 07, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Description The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716. The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716.
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Feb. 12, 2023

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed Description The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716. The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716.
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Jul. 05, 2022

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Removed CVSS V3 NIST AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Added CVSS V3.1 NIST AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Changed Reference Type https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251 Issue Tracking https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365 No Types Assigned https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365 Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21 No Types Assigned https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21 Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde Patch https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde Patch, Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20 No Types Assigned https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20 Third Party Advisory
    Changed CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* OR *cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:policy_auditor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions up to (excluding) 6.5.1
    Added CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 2.7.0 up to (excluding) 2.7.15 *cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.3.0 up to (excluding) 3.3.7 *cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.4.0 up to (excluding) 3.4.7 *cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.5.0 up to (excluding) 3.5.4 *cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 3.6.0 up to (excluding) 3.6.2
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jul. 31, 2021

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365 [No Types Assigned]
  • CPE Deprecation Remap by [email protected]

    Jan. 25, 2021

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed CPE Configuration OR *cpe:2.3:a:libexpat:expat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 2.1.1 OR *cpe:2.3:a:libexpat_project:libexpat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* versions from (including) 2.1.1
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Nov. 03, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20 [No Types Assigned]
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Jul. 01, 2017

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21 [No Types Assigned]
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Dec. 15, 2016

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Changed CPE Configuration Configuration 1 OR *cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* Configuration 2 OR *cpe:2.3:a:libexpat:expat:2.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* (and previous) Configuration 1 OR *cpe:2.3:a:libexpat:expat:2.1.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:* (and previous) Configuration 2 OR *cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
    Changed Reference Type http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1 No Types Assigned http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1 Third Party Advisory
    Changed Reference Type https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251 No Types Assigned https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251 Issue Tracking
    Changed Reference Type http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528 No Types Assigned http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry
  • CVE Modified by [email protected]

    Nov. 28, 2016

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added Reference http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528 [No Types Assigned]
  • Modified Analysis by [email protected]

    Jul. 01, 2016

    Action Type Old Value New Value
    Added CPE Configuration Configuration 1 OR *cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:* Configuration 2 OR *cpe:2.3:a:libexpat:expat:2.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* (and previous)
    Added CVSS V2 (AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P)
    Added CVSS V3 AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
    Changed Reference Type https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde No Types Assigned https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde Patch
    Added CWE CWE-119
  • Initial Analysis by [email protected]

    Jul. 01, 2016

    Action Type Old Value New Value
EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days. Following chart shows the EPSS score history of the vulnerability.
Vulnerability Scoring Details
Base CVSS Score: 8.1
Attack Vector
Attack Complexity
Privileges Required
User Interaction
Scope
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact
Base CVSS Score: 6.8
Access Vector
Access Complexity
Authentication
Confidentiality Impact
Integrity Impact
Availability Impact
Exploit Prediction

EPSS is a daily estimate of the probability of exploitation activity being observed over the next 30 days.

3.28 }} 0.84%

score

0.86783

percentile