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CVE-2016-1637

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-03-06
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 48.0.2564.116 or later.
See remediation →
72/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 SkATan2_255 function in effects/gradients/SkSweepGradient.cpp in Skia, as used in Google Chrome before 49.0.2623.75, mishandles arctangent calculations, which allows remote attackers to obtain sensitive information via a crafted web site.

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

A vulnerability in Skia's SkSweepGradient.cpp allows mishandling of arctangent calculations in the SkATan2_255 function, potentially allowing a remote attacker to obtain sensitive information (possibly memory contents) via a crafted website.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 49.0.2623.75 or later. For applications using the Skia library directly, update to a patched version of Skia.

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
ChromeWeb browser
Affected:<= 48.0.2564.116

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

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

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

  1. Check Google Chrome version
    Navigate to chrome://settings/help or run 'chrome --version' in command line
    Affected if Version is 48.0.2564.116 or earlier (any version up to and including 48.0.2564.116)
  2. Confirm Skia library is present
    Open chrome://version and look for the Skia component in the version string, or visit chrome://gpu to verify graphics rendering is active
    Affected if Skia is used for graphics rendering in the Chrome installation
  3. Verify SweepGradient usage
    Inspect browser traffic or use Chrome DevTools to see if any web content is loading gradient-based visual elements
    Affected if The browser renders web content with radial or sweep gradient effects, which invoke the vulnerable SkSweepGradient code path

User is affected if running Google Chrome version 48.0.2564.116 or earlier and the browser is used to render web content with gradient-based graphics.

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 48.0.2564.116
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 49.0.2623.75 or later. For applications using the Skia library directly, update to a patched version of Skia.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
8.0 hours of engineering $1,340
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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-2016-1637 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