# CVE-2016-10228: Denial of service in n/a

> The iconv program in glibc enters an infinite loop when processing invalid multi-byte input with specific options, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.9 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 2 Mar 2017
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-10228, GHSA-g93f-3wq3-pq68, MGASA-2021-0289, SUSE-SU-2021:3830-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-10228, openSUSE-SU-2021:1560-1

## What is CVE-2016-10228?

CVE-2016-10228 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 2 Mar 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The iconv program in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) 2.31 and earlier, when invoked with multiple suffixes in the destination encoding (TRANSLATE or IGNORE) along with the -c option, enters an infinite loop when processing invalid multi-byte input sequences, leading to a denial of service.

Weakness: CWE-20 (Improper Input Validation)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-10228?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `glibc` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Micro 5.0 | All versions | 2.26-13.62.1 |
| `glibc` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP2 | All versions | 2.26-13.62.1 |
| `glibc` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Development Tools 15 SP2 | All versions | 2.26-13.62.1 |
| `glibc` | openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | All versions | 2.26-lp152.26.12.1 |
| `glibc-testsuite-src` | openSUSE:Leap 15.2 | All versions | 2.26-lp152.26.12.1 |

Products: Gnu Glibc.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-10228?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2016-10228 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-10228 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Glibc

- [CVE-2026-5450](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-5450/): scanf %mc off-by-one heap buffer overflow (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-25139](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25139/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-1999-0199](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0199/): Other in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-1010022](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1010022/): Security feature bypass in glibc (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2005-3590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-3590/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-10228 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-10228 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 2 Mar 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-10228 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Gnu Glibc. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10228/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10228/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-10228
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10228
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-10228

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10228/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.