# CVE-2016-4491: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via crafted binaries triggering infinite recursion and buffer overflow in the libiberty demangler.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 24 Feb 2017
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-4491, GHSA-7r8p-jc9c-3r5f, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-4491

## What is CVE-2016-4491?

CVE-2016-4491 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Feb 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

The d_print_comp function in cp-demangle.c in libiberty allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (segmentation fault and crash) via a crafted binary, which triggers infinite recursion and a buffer overflow, related to a node having "itself as ancestor more than once."

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-4491?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Libiberty.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-4491?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2016-4491 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4491 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2016-2226](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2226/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2016-6131](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6131/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2016-4487](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4487/): Use after free in n/a (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2016-4488](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4488/): Use after free in n/a (medium 5.5)
- [CVE-2016-4489](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4489/): Integer overflow in n/a (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-4491 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-4491 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 24 Feb 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4491 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-2016-4491/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4491/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-4491
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-4491
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-4491

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4491/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.