dbcve.org
PostgreSQLDatabase / datastore

CVE-2016-0773

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-02-17
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 9.1.19 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
PostgreSQL before 9.1.20, 9.2.x before 9.2.15, 9.3.x before 9.3.11, 9.4.x before 9.4.6, and 9.5.x before 9.5.1 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop or buffer overflow and crash) via a large Unicode character range in a regular expression.

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

PostgreSQL's regular expression engine contains a flaw where specially crafted regex patterns with large Unicode character ranges can trigger either an infinite loop causing service hang, or a buffer overflow leading to process crash. The vulnerability is exploitable remotely without authentication by sending malicious regex input to the database.

MitigationUpgrade PostgreSQL to version 9.1.20, 9.2.15, 9.3.11, 9.4.6, 9.5.1 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict network access to PostgreSQL ports and disable or sandbox complex regex operations from untrusted sources.

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
PostgreSQLDatabase / datastore
Affected:<= 9.1.19= 9.2= 9.2.1= 9.2.2= 9.2.3= 9.2.4= 9.2.5= 9.2.6= 9.2.7= 9.2.8= 9.2.9= 9.2.10
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 15.10
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 8.0

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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 PostgreSQL version
    Run 'psql --version' or 'SELECT version();' query to get the exact PostgreSQL version number
    Affected if Version is 9.1.19 or earlier, or any 9.2.x version up to 9.2.10 inclusive
  2. Confirm PostgreSQL is network accessible
    Check postgresql.conf for 'listen_addresses' setting or examine netstat/ss output for ports 5432 or custom port bindings
    Affected if PostgreSQL is bound to a network interface (0.0.0.0 or specific IP) rather than localhost only
  3. Verify pg_hba.conf network access rules
    Inspect pg_hba.conf for entries allowing connections from non-localhost IP addresses without requiring authentication
    Affected if Any host-based authentication rule permits connections from remote addresses (0.0.0.0/0 or specific subnets)
  4. Check for regex function usage in exposed applications
    Review application code or database functions that accept user input and pass it to PostgreSQL regex operators (~, ~*, SIMILAR TO, or regex_replace)
    Affected if Applications accept arbitrary user input that gets processed by PostgreSQL's regex engine without input validation

You are affected if your PostgreSQL version falls within the vulnerable range (9.1.x <= 9.1.19 or 9.2.x <= 9.2.10) AND the database is accessible over a network where untrusted clients could submit malicious regex patterns.

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.

From vendor data
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 9.1.19
Interim mitigation

Upgrade PostgreSQL to version 9.1.20, 9.2.15, 9.3.11, 9.4.6, 9.5.1 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, restrict network access to PostgreSQL ports and disable or sandbox complex regex operations from untrusted sources.

Fix this in PostgreSQL Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing2.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,600
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-0773 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2016-0773 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.

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