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Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2016-0483

HIGH · 10.0 CVSS v2.0 Published 2016-01-21
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 6u105, 7u91, and 8u66; Java SE Embedded 8u65; and JRockit R28.3.8 allows remote attackers to affect confidentiality, integrity, and availability via vectors related to AWT. NOTE: the previous information is from the January 2016 CPU. Oracle has not commented on third-party claims that this is a heap-based buffer overflow in the readImage function, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted image data.

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 · moderate confidence

Heap-based buffer overflow in Java AWT's readImage function allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted image data. This critical vulnerability affects multiple Java SE versions (6u105, 7u91, 8u66), Java SE Embedded 8u65, and JRockit R28.3.8.

MitigationApply the appropriate Oracle Java Critical Patch Update (CPU) to upgrade affected Java installations to patched versions, or disable Java in browsers and remove unused Java installations if not required.

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= 15.04= 15.10
JdkApplication
Affected:= 1.6.0= 1.7.0= 1.8.0
JreApplication
Affected:= 1.6.0= 1.7.0= 1.8.0
JrockitApplication
Affected:= r28.3.8

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
Authentication
None
Confidentiality
Complete
Integrity
Complete
Availability
Complete

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C

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. Verify Java installation exists
    Run 'java -version' or 'which java' to determine if Java is installed on the system
    Affected if No Java installation found means not affected by this CVE
  2. Identify installed Java version
    Run 'java -version 2>&1' to capture the full version string (including update number)
    Affected if Version string matches or falls within: 1.6.0 (all updates), 1.7.0 (all updates), 1.8.0 through 1.8.0u66, or JRockit r28.3.8 - these ranges are affected
  3. Check Ubuntu package version (if on Ubuntu)
    For Debian-based systems, run 'dpkg -l | grep -i java' or check specific packages: 'dpkg -l openjdk-*' or 'dpkg -l oracle-java*'
    Affected if Package version matches Ubuntu 12.04, 14.04, 15.04, or 15.10 with unpatched Java packages
  4. Determine Java usage context
    Identify if Java applications on this system process image files from untrusted sources (e.g., web-facing applications, user-uploaded content) - the vulnerability triggers when readImage processes crafted image data
    Affected if Java processes untrusted image data from network sources, web uploads, or external input
  5. Confirm AWT library is accessible
    Verify the 'java.awt' package is available by checking: 'jar tf $JAVA_HOME/lib/rt.jar | grep awt/Image' where $JAVA_HOME is the Java installation directory
    Affected if AWT libraries are present and the Java installation is unpatched, the readImage function is vulnerable

System is affected if an unpatched Java installation (JDK/JRE 1.6.0, 1.7.0, 1.8.0 through u66, or JRockit r28.3.8) is present and processes untrusted image data via AWT's image handling functions.

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
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch www.oracle.com →
Interim mitigation

Apply the appropriate Oracle Java Critical Patch Update (CPU) to upgrade affected Java installations to patched versions, or disable Java in browsers and remove unused Java installations if not required.

Recommended fix High confidence

OpenJDK 8u72 or later / Oracle Java SE 8u66 or later (or Java 7u91+/6u105+ if maintaining older major version)

  1. Check current Java version: java -version
  2. Update package lists: sudo apt-get update
  3. Upgrade to a fixed Java version. For Ubuntu 14.04 and later, install OpenJDK 8: sudo apt-get install openjdk-8-jdk
  4. Verify the installation: java -version
  5. If multiple Java versions are installed, set the default: sudo update-alternatives --config java
  6. For Java 6/7 (EOL), migrate applications to Java 8 or later as these versions are no longer supported
  7. Apply Oracle's January 2016 CPU patch if using Oracle JDK: http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/cpujan2016-2367955.html
Caveat Java 6 and 7 are End-of-Life; upgrading to Java 8 may require application compatibility testing; verify application dependencies support newer Java versions

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
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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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-2016-0483 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