CVE-2016-10640
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 · uneditednode-thulac is a node binding for thulac. node-thulac downloads binary resources over HTTP, which leaves it vulnerable to MITM attacks. It may be possible to cause remote code execution (RCE) by swapping out the requested binary with an attacker controlled binary if the attacker is on the network or positioned in between the user and the remote server.
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 confidenceThe node-thulac npm package downloads binary resources over unencrypted HTTP instead of HTTPS, allowing an attacker on the network path to perform a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack and inject a malicious binary. When users install or update the package, the compromised binary executes with the privileges of the Node.js process, potentially enabling remote code execution.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if node-thulac is installedSearch your project's package.json for 'node-thulac' or 'geohey-node-thulac' in the dependencies, or run 'npm list node-thulac' to see if it is present in node_modulesAffected if node-thulac or geohey-node-thulac appears in your installed dependencies
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Inspect the package source for HTTP download URLsLocate the node-thulac package in node_modules and examine its source files, particularly any configuration files, install scripts, or code that fetches external binaries. Look for URLs starting with 'http://' instead of 'https://'Affected if The package source contains HTTP URLs for downloading binary resources
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Monitor network connections during package installationInstall or reinstall the node-thulac package while capturing network traffic (using a proxy, Wireshark, or strace/dtrace) and observe whether any connections are made to http:// URLs (port 80) rather than https:// (port 443)Affected if Any HTTP connections are made during package installation or update
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Review postinstall scripts for binary fetchingCheck the package.json of node-thulac for any 'scripts' section, particularly 'install' or 'postinstall' hooks, and examine what commands they executeAffected if The package has install scripts that download and execute binaries from network sources
You are affected if node-thulac or geohey-node-thulac is installed and its binary download mechanism uses unencrypted HTTP URLs.
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 dataReplace HTTP URLs with HTTPS for all binary resource downloads, and implement checksum or signature verification to ensure binary integrity before execution.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-10640 — 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-2016-10640 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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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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