CVE-2016-3189 Use after free in n/a

Medium 6.5 Published 30 Jun 2016 Updated 14 Oct 2026

Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via a crafted bzip2 file due to a use-after-free error in bzip2recover.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: A user has to click or open something
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2016-3189?

CVE-2016-3189 is a medium-severity use after free vulnerability in Python Python, published on 30 Jun 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

Use-after-free vulnerability in bzip2recover in bzip2 1.0.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted bzip2 file, related to block ends set to before the start of the block.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-3189?

It affects 2 products.

Linux distribution packages (4)

`bzip2` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15	All versions	`1.0.6-5.3.1`
`bzip2` SUSE:Linux Enterprise Module for Basesystem 15 SP1	All versions	`1.0.6-5.3.1`
`bzip2` openSUSE:Leap 15.0	All versions	`1.0.6-lp150.4.3.1`
`bzip2` openSUSE:Leap 15.1	All versions	`1.0.6-lp151.5.3.1`

Products include Bzip Bzip2, Python Python.

How do I fix CVE-2016-3189?

Apply the vendor's patch.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2016-3189 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-3189 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Python Python vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2016-3189, CLEANSTART-2026-JO91864, DEBIAN-CVE-2016-3189, GHSA-mg3q-2g68-qp7w, JLSEC-2025-10, MGASA-2016-0400 and 6 more.