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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2015-8776

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-04-19
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
The strftime function in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) before 2.23 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly obtain sensitive information via an out-of-range time value.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

The strftime function in glibc before version 2.23 does not properly validate time values, allowing context-dependent attackers to trigger out-of-range conditions that cause application crashes (denial of service) or potentially expose sensitive information from memory.

MitigationUpgrade glibc to version 2.23 or later to patch the strftime vulnerability, as this is a system-level library affecting all applications that use the date/time formatting functions.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 15.10
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 23
Linux Enterprise DebuginfoApplication
Affected:= 11
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 13.2
Linux Enterprise DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 11= 12
Linux Enterprise ServerOperating system
Affected:= 11= 12
Linux Enterprise Software Development KitOperating system
Affected:= 11= 12

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify installed glibc version
    Run 'ldd --version' or 'glibc --version' to get the glibc version number
    Affected if The version shown is earlier than 2.23 (e.g., 2.22, 2.19, etc.)
  2. Check glibc package version on Debian/Ubuntu
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep libc6' on Debian/Ubuntu to see the installed glibc package version
    Affected if The version is less than 2.23-0ubuntu0 or 2.23 and below
  3. Check glibc version on Fedora
    Run 'rpm -q glibc' to query the glibc package version on Fedora
    Affected if The version shown is earlier than 2.23
  4. Check glibc version on SUSE
    Run 'rpm -q glibc' on SUSE systems to query the installed glibc version
    Affected if The version is earlier than 2.23
  5. Verify strftime usage in deployed applications
    Review application code or use 'ldd <executable>' to confirm linkage against the vulnerable glibc, then test strftime calls with out-of-range time values if possible
    Affected if The application links against a glibc version earlier than 2.23 and uses strftime with user-controlled format strings

You are affected if your system runs any glibc version earlier than 2.23 and applications use the strftime function with time values that could be manipulated to cause out-of-range conditions.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade glibc to version 2.23 or later to patch the strftime vulnerability, as this is a system-level library affecting all applications that use the date/time formatting functions.

Recommended fix High confidence

glibc version 2.23 or later (or vendor-provided patch level containing the fix)

  1. Check current glibc version: `ldd --version` or `rpm -q glibc` / `dpkg -l libc6`
  2. Verify the version is below 2.23 (vulnerable)
  3. For Debian/Ubuntu: Run `apt-get update && apt-get install libc6` to get the fixed package
  4. For Fedora: Run `dnf update glibc` to apply security updates
  5. For openSUSE: Run `zypper update glibc` to install the patched version
  6. For SUSE Linux Enterprise: Run `zypper patch` or apply updates from SUSE repositories
  7. Reboot the system to ensure the new glibc is loaded into memory
  8. Verify the fix by checking glibc version again - should be 2.23 or later
Caveat Upgrading glibc is a critical system change; ensure compatibility with dependent applications and schedule maintenance window for reboot

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-8776 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data