# CVE-2016-7166: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause denial of service via memory exhaustion using crafted gzip files in libarchive.

- **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:** 21 Sep 2016
- **Updated:** 6 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2016-7166, GHSA-8hwj-j49v-pfwp, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-7166

## What is CVE-2016-7166?

CVE-2016-7166 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libarchive Libarchive, published on 21 Sep 2016. 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

libarchive before 3.2.0 does not limit the number of recursive decompressions, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and application crash) via a crafted gzip file.

Weakness: CWE-399

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-7166?

It affects 9 products.


Products: Libarchive Libarchive, Oracle Linux, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node, Redhat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node Eus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Aus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server Eus, Redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-7166?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-7166 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-7166 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Libarchive Libarchive

- [CVE-2024-37407](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-37407/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2016-1541](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-1541/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2016-6250](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-6250/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 8.6)
- [CVE-2025-5914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-5914/): Libarchive: double free at archive_read_format_rar_seek_data() in archive_read_support_format_rar.c (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2024-48957](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-48957/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2016-7166 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-7166 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Libarchive Libarchive, published on 21 Sep 2016. 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-2016-7166 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Libarchive Libarchive. 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-2016-7166/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7166/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-7166
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-7166
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-7166

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-7166/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.