CVE-2016-4809 Denial of service in n/a

High 7.5 Published 21 Sep 2016 Updated 6 Aug 2024

Remote attackers can crash applications using libarchive by providing a CPIO archive with a large symlink, requiring an upgrade to libarchive.

Exploited in the wild: Not known
Login needed: Not needed
Attackable: Over the internet
Victim action needed: Not needed
Fix: Available

What is CVE-2016-4809?

CVE-2016-4809 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libarchive Libarchive, published on 21 Sep 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

Official description

The archive_read_format_cpio_read_header function in archive_read_support_format_cpio.c in libarchive before 3.2.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) via a CPIO archive with a large symlink.

Weakness: CWE-20

Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-4809?

It affects 9 products.

Products include Libarchive Libarchive, Oracle Linux, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node, Redhat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node Eus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server and 3 more.

How do I fix CVE-2016-4809?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade, then put limits on request size, rate and nesting depth so one client cannot exhaust the service. More about Denial of service.

Is CVE-2016-4809 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-4809 in the wild and no public exploit code.

All Libarchive Libarchive vulnerabilities

Sources

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2016-4809, DEBIAN-CVE-2016-4809, GHSA-qv34-qvqq-q583, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-4809.