# CVE-2016-10253: Memory corruption in n/a

> Heap overflow in Erlang/OTP regex compilation allows arbitrary memory read and write, potentially leading to code execution.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:** 18 Mar 2017
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-10253, GHSA-9cqh-gh33-j3r9, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-10253

## What is CVE-2016-10253?

CVE-2016-10253 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 Mar 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in Erlang/OTP 18.x. Erlang's generation of compiled regular expressions is vulnerable to a heap overflow. Regular expressions using a malformed extpattern can indirectly specify an offset that is used as an array index. This ordinal permits arbitrary regions within the erts_alloc arena to be both read and written to.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-10253?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Erlang Erlang\/Otp.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-10253?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-10253 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-10253 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2022-37026](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-37026/): Auth bypass in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-55953](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-55953/): TLS 1.2 and DTLS client accepts unoffered anonymous cipher suite, bypassing server authentication (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2026-49759](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-49759/): Stack buffer overflow in SCTP error cause parsing in inet_drv allows remote VM crash (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-58227](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-58227/): TLS/DTLS denial of service via unbounded recursion on cross-signed peer certificate chain (high 8.7)
- [CVE-2026-59251](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-59251/): Denial of service via exponential certificate policy tree growth in path validation (high 8.7)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-10253 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-10253 is a critical memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 18 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-2016-10253 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2016-10253/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10253/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-10253
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-10253
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-10253

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-10253/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.