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ChromeWeb browser · Google

CVE-2016-1685

MEDIUM · 6.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-06-05
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 50.0.2661.102 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
core/fxge/ge/fx_ge_text.cpp in PDFium, as used in Google Chrome before 51.0.2704.63, miscalculates certain index values, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) 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 confidence

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in PDFium's text rendering code (core/fxge/ge/fx_ge_text.cpp) where index values are miscalculated. This allows remote attackers to trigger a denial of service by providing a specially crafted PDF document that causes the application to read beyond allocated memory boundaries.

MitigationUpdate Google Chrome to version 51.0.2704.63 or later. For embedded PDFium usage, update to the patched version of the library that corrects the index calculation in the text rendering code.

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:<= 50.0.2661.102
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 6.0
LeapOperating system
Affected:= 42.1
OpensuseOperating system
Affected:= 13.2
Linux EnterpriseOperating system
Affected:= 12.0

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
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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. Check Google Chrome version
    Navigate to chrome://settings/help or use 'About Google Chrome' menu item to view the installed version number
    Affected if The installed version is 50.0.2661.102 or earlier
  2. Identify PDFium library presence
    Search for the PDFium library file (libpdfium.so or similar) on the system using 'find /usr -name '*pdfium*' 2>/dev/null' or check package manager for pdfium-related packages
    Affected if PDFium library is installed on the system
  3. Check PDF viewing capability
    Verify if any application capable of rendering PDFs is in use (such as Chrome, Chromium, or other PDF viewers that embed PDFium) by checking installed packages or running applications
    Affected if A PDF viewer using PDFium is installed and used to open untrusted PDF documents
  4. Verify vulnerable source file presence
    If PDFium source code is present, search for the file 'core/fxge/ge/fx_ge_text.cpp' and check its version or modification date against the patched version
    Affected if The text rendering source code predates the CVE-2016-1685 patch
  5. Check Linux distribution package versions
    For Debian 8.0, RHEL 6.0, openSUSE 42.1, openSUSE 13.2, or SUSE Linux Enterprise 12.0, use the distribution's package manager (dpkg, rpm, zypper) to query the version of any installed pdfium or chrome packages
    Affected if The installed package version matches or is earlier than the affected versions listed in the CVE

You are affected if you run Google Chrome version 50.0.2661.102 or earlier, or any application embedding a PDFium library version that predates the CVE-2016-1685 patch, and you open untrusted PDF documents with them.

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 50.0.2661.102
Interim mitigation

Update Google Chrome to version 51.0.2704.63 or later. For embedded PDFium usage, update to the patched version of the library that corrects the index calculation in the text rendering code.

Fix this in Chrome Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation1.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,190
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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-2016-1685 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