CVE-2016-4809

Severity: high (CVSS 7.5 v3.0)
Exploited in the wild: not listed in CISA KEV
EPSS: 4.8% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days
Public exploit or detection template: none known
Published: 2016-09-21 · updated 2026-06-17
Weakness: CWE-20

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.

Affected products

libarchive: through 3.2.0
Oracle Corporation Oracle Linux: 6, 7
RedHat Enterprise Linux Desktop: 6.0, 7.0
RedHat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node: 6.0, 7.0
RedHat Enterprise Linux Hpc Node Eus: 7.2
RedHat Enterprise Linux Server: 6.0, 7.0
RedHat Enterprise Linux Server Aus: 7.2
RedHat Enterprise Linux Server Eus: 7.2
RedHat Enterprise Linux Workstation: 6.0, 7.0

References

http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1844.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1850.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3657
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91813
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1347084
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/commit/fd7e0c02
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/issues/705
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-03
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1844.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1850.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3657

Get alerted when CVE-2016-4809 or the next vulnerability affects your stack