# CVE-2016-4606: Code injection in curl

> Remote or local attackers can execute arbitrary code, gain sensitive information, and cause denial-of-service in curl on Apple OS X.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.1/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:** No
- **Published:** 21 Feb 2020
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-2fx2-v8hh-86v7

## What is CVE-2016-4606?

CVE-2016-4606 is a critical code injection vulnerability in Haxx Curl, published on 21 Feb 2020. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Curl before 7.49.1 in Apple OS X before macOS Sierra prior to 10.12 allows remote or local attackers to execute arbitrary code, gain sensitive information, cause denial-of-service conditions, bypass security restrictions, and perform unauthorized actions. This may aid in other attacks.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-4606?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Haxx Curl.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-4606?

No fix has been published for CVE-2016-4606 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2016-4606 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4606 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Haxx Curl

- [CVE-2026-19931](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-19931/): Negotiate ambient user conn reuse (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-10536](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-10536/): HTTP/2 stream-dependency tree UAF (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-11856](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-11856/): cross-origin Digest auth state leak (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-8925](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-8925/): SASL double-free (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2026-9079](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-9079/): stale proxy password leak (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-4606 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-4606 is a critical code injection vulnerability in Haxx Curl, published on 21 Feb 2020. 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-2016-4606 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Haxx Curl. 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-2016-4606/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4606/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-4606
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-4606
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-4606

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4606/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.