CurlApplication · Haxx
CVE-2016-0754
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 · uneditedcURL before 7.47.0 on Windows allows attackers to write to arbitrary files in the current working directory on a different drive via a colon in a remote file name.
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 confidenceThis vulnerability in cURL versions before 7.47.0 on Windows allows arbitrary file writes via a colon character in remote filenames. On Windows, colons denote drive letters (e.g., C:, D:), enabling attackers to write files to a different drive than the current working directory, bypassing intended path restrictions.
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
CurlApplication
<= 7.46.0CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:L/A:N
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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check cURL version on WindowsRun 'curl --version' or 'curl -V' in Command Prompt or PowerShell to display the version information.Affected if The displayed version number is 7.46.0 or lower.
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Verify Windows platformConfirm the operating system is Windows. Run 'systeminfo | findstr /B /C:"OS Name"' or check system properties.Affected if The system is running Windows and the cURL version is 7.46.0 or lower.
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Identify if cURL processes remote URLsReview scripts, applications, or automated processes that invoke cURL to fetch files from remote servers. Search for curl commands that download files from external HTTP, HTTPS, or FTP sources.Affected if cURL is used to download or process files from untrusted remote URLs on Windows with an affected version.
A Windows system is affected if it runs cURL version 7.46.0 or lower and uses cURL to process remote URLs that could contain filenames with colon characters.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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.
From vendor dataUpgrade cURL to version 7.47.0 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, avoid processing untrusted remote URLs with cURL on Windows and implement strict input validation to reject filenames containing colon characters.
Fix this in Curl
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0754 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2016-0754 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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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.
- 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