# CVE-2016-8617: Memory corruption in curl

> A buffer under-allocation in curl's base64 encoder on 32-bit systems allows attackers to cause memory corruption via large inputs.

- **Severity:** Low 3.3 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 31 Jul 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Apr 2026
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2016-8617, CLEANSTART-2026-JY24927, CURL-CVE-2016-8617, DEBIAN-CVE-2016-8617, GHSA-hjj8-p7vc-2hh7, UBUNTU-CVE-2016-8617

## What is CVE-2016-8617?

CVE-2016-8617 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Haxx Curl, published on 31 Jul 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

The base64 encode function in curl before version 7.51.0 is prone to a buffer being under allocated in 32bit systems if it receives at least 1Gb as input via `CURLOPT_USERNAME`.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2016-8617?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Haxx Curl.

## How do I fix CVE-2016-8617?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2016-8617 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8617 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-2016-8617 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2016-8617 is a low-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Haxx Curl, published on 31 Jul 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2016-8617 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-2016-8617/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8617/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-8617
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-8617
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-8617

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-8617/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.