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OpenshiftApplication · Redhat

CVE-2016-2074

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-07-03
Patch available
A vendor patch is available. No clean upgrade release — apply the published patch.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click Patch available

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
Buffer overflow in lib/flow.c in ovs-vswitchd in Open vSwitch 2.2.x and 2.3.x before 2.3.3 and 2.4.x before 2.4.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via crafted MPLS packets, as demonstrated by a long string in an ovs-appctl command.

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
How this class of weakness works · CWE-119

The program reads or writes outside the bounds of an allocated buffer, corrupting adjacent memory. With crafted input an attacker can overwrite control data and, with effort, redirect execution to their own code. Remediation ranges from bounds checking and safe library functions to compiler mitigations, usually alongside a careful audit of the surrounding code.

General guidance for the memory buffer bounds error class — the official description and references above are authoritative for this specific CVE. Want a bespoke review and a reviewed fix? Ask our team →

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
OpenshiftApplication
Affected:= 3.1
OpenvswitchApplication
Affected:= 2.2.0= 2.3.0= 2.3.1= 2.3.2= 2.4.0

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

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

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.

dbcve · scoped
Patch available Apply the vendor patch
Vendor patch openvswitch.org →
Recommended fix High confidence

Open vSwitch 2.3.3 or later, or 2.4.1 or later (recommended: latest stable 2.x release)

  1. 1. Identify the Open vSwitch version currently installed in the OpenShift environment
  2. 2. For OpenShift 3.1: Check the bundled Open vSwitch version and upgrade to a version that includes the security fix (Open vSwitch 2.4.1 or later)
  3. 3. For standalone Open vSwitch: If running version 2.2.x, upgrade to version 2.3.3 or later
  4. 4. For standalone Open vSwitch: If running version 2.3.0-2.3.2, upgrade to version 2.3.3 or later
  5. 5. For standalone Open vSwitch: If running version 2.4.x before 2.4.1, upgrade to version 2.4.1 or later
  6. 6. After upgrade, restart the ovs-vswitchd service to apply the patched binary
  7. 7. Verify the new version is running: ovs-vswitchd --version
  8. 8. Test that normal Open vSwitch operations (flows, bridges, ports) function correctly after the restart
Caveat Review Open vSwitch release notes for migration notes between minor versions; minor configuration syntax changes are rare but test in non-production first

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

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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-2016-2074 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
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