# CVE-2016-6855: Memory corruption in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via out-of-bounds write in Eye of GNOME when processing invalid UTF-8 data.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 7 Sep 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-6855, DLA-2185-1, DLA-605-1, GHSA-7jwp-58q4-9rxh, MGASA-2016-0297, SUSE-SU-2016:2827-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-6855, USN-3069-1

## What is CVE-2016-6855?

CVE-2016-6855 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 7 Sep 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Eye of GNOME (aka eog) 3.16.5, 3.17.x, 3.18.x before 3.18.3, 3.19.x, and 3.20.x before 3.20.4, when used with glib before 2.44.1, allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write and crash) via vectors involving passing invalid UTF-8 to GMarkup.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-6855?

It affects 5 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `eog` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1 | All versions | 3.10.2-2.3.1 |
| `eog` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP1 | All versions | 3.10.2-2.3.1 |
| `eog` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP1 | All versions | 3.10.2-2.3.1 |
| `eog` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP1 | All versions | 3.10.2-2.3.1 |

Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Fedoraproject Fedora, Gnome Eye of Gnome, Opensuse Leap, Opensuse Opensuse.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-6855?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-6855 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-6855 exists.

Public exploit code:

- Eye of Gnome 3.10.2 - GMarkup Out of Bounds Write (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-6855 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-6855 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 7 Sep 2016. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2016-6855 exists.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. 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-2016-6855/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6855/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-6855
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-6855
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-6855

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6855/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.