Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2016-1681
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 · uneditedHeap-based buffer overflow in the opj_j2k_read_SPCod_SPCoc function in j2k.c in OpenJPEG, as used in PDFium in Google Chrome before 51.0.2704.63, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted PDF document.
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 confidenceA heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the opj_j2k_read_SPCod_SPCoc function in j2k.c within the OpenJPEG library. This library is embedded in PDFium (Google Chrome's PDF renderer). The overflow occurs when parsing specially crafted JPEG 2000 image data embedded in PDF documents, potentially allowing remote code execution or denial of service.
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
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 8.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
= 6.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
= 6.0
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
= 6.0
ChromeWeb browser
<= 50.0.2661.102= 42.1= 13.2= 12.0CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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 Google Chrome versionNavigate to chrome://settings/help or run 'google-chrome --version' to see the installed Chrome versionAffected if Version is 50.0.2661.102 or earlier
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Identify OpenJPEG library installationRun 'dpkg -l | grep openjpeg' (Debian/Ubuntu), 'rpm -qa | grep openjpeg' (RHEL/SUSE), or check for libopenjpeg files in /usr/lib/Affected if OpenJPEG library version is unpatched and the library is present on the system
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Check PDFium/Chrome PDF rendering componentIn Chrome, open chrome://components and look for the PDF Viewer component version, or verify the PDF plugin is enabledAffected if PDF Viewer is enabled and uses an unpatched OpenJPEG version
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Verify JPEG 2000 support in PDF applicationsAttempt to open a PDF containing JPEG 2000 images, or check PDF viewer logs for 'JPX' or 'JPEG 2000' decoding activityAffected if The system processes JPEG 2000 images embedded in PDF documents using the vulnerable code path
You are affected if Google Chrome version is 50.0.2661.102 or earlier, OR if an unpatched OpenJPEG library version is installed and PDF rendering with JPEG 2000 support is enabled on the system.
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 dataUpdate Google Chrome to version 51.0.2704.63 or later, which contains the patched OpenJPEG library. For other applications using OpenJPEG, update to a patched version of the OpenJPEG library that addresses this heap overflow.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $4,864.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1681 — 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-2016-1681 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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