Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical
CVE-2016-1689
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 content/renderer/media/canvas_capture_handler.cc 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 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 · high confidenceHeap-based buffer overflow in Google Chrome's canvas capture handler (canvas_capture_handler.cc) allows a remote attacker to cause denial of service or potentially execute arbitrary code via a crafted malicious website. The vulnerability occurs when processing canvas media elements and can corrupt heap memory.
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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
= 14.04= 15.10= 16.04
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= 13.2CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Check if Google Chrome is installedRun 'which google-chrome' or 'which chromium-browser' on Linux. On Windows, check C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe or C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe. On macOS, check /Applications/Google Chrome.appAffected if Google Chrome is not found on the system, the user is not affected by this specific Chrome vulnerability
-
Determine the installed Google Chrome versionRun 'google-chrome --version' or 'chromium-browser --version' on Linux. On Windows, run '"C:\Program Files\Google\Chrome\Application\chrome.exe" --version' or right-click Chrome in the UI and select About Google Chrome. On macOS, open Google Chrome and go to Chrome > About Google ChromeAffected if The version number returned is 50.0.2661.102 or lower, indicating the browser is in the affected version range
-
Confirm canvas capture handler is in useThis vulnerability affects the canvas.captureStream() API. Check if any web applications or websites being visited use canvas media capture by inspecting browser traffic or checking if Canvas Capture API is invoked in web contentAffected if The browser is a vulnerable version AND canvas media elements with capture functionality are being processed, creating the conditions for heap corruption
The user is affected if Google Chrome version 50.0.2661.102 or lower is installed and canvas media capture features are being actively used in the browser environment.
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. Organizations should ensure automatic updates are enabled or deploy the patched version through their endpoint management systems.
Fix this in Ubuntu Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-1689 — 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-2016-1689 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
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.
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.
- 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