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BotanApplication · Botan Project

CVE-2016-2196

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-05-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
Heap-based buffer overflow in the P-521 reduction function in Botan 1.11.x before 1.11.27 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory overwrite and crash) or execute arbitrary code via unspecified vectors.

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

Heap-based buffer overflow in the P-521 elliptic curve reduction function in Botan crypto library versions 1.11.x before 1.11.27 allows remote attackers to overwrite heap memory, causing denial of service via crash or potentially execute arbitrary code.

MitigationUpgrade Botan to version 1.11.27 or later. If upgrading is not possible, consider migrating to a currently supported Botan branch (2.x) or an alternative cryptographic library.

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
BotanApplication
Affected:= 1.11.0= 1.11.1= 1.11.2= 1.11.3= 1.11.4= 1.11.5= 1.11.6= 1.11.7= 1.11.8= 1.11.9= 1.11.10= 1.11.11

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

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. Identify if Botan crypto library is in use
    Search your codebase, dependencies, or installed packages for references to 'botan' or the Botan library. Check build files, package manifests, or library search paths for libbotan.
    Affected if Botan library is present in your environment
  2. Determine the installed Botan version
    Run 'botan --version' if the binary is available, or inspect the version string in the compiled library file. Compare against the affected range 1.11.0 to 1.11.11.
    Affected if The installed version is 1.11.0, 1.11.1, 1.11.2, 1.11.3, 1.11.4, 1.11.5, 1.11.6, 1.11.7, 1.11.8, 1.11.9, 1.11.10, or 1.11.11
  3. Check if P-521 elliptic curve is enabled or used
    Search your configuration files, code, or runtime parameters for 'P-521', 'secp521r1', or the string 'oid' associated with P-521 curve usage. Inspect any ECC key generation, signing, or verification operations.
    Affected if P-521 elliptic curve operations are performed using the vulnerable reduction function

You are affected if your environment uses Botan library versions 1.11.0 through 1.11.11 and performs P-521 elliptic curve operations.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade Botan to version 1.11.27 or later. If upgrading is not possible, consider migrating to a currently supported Botan branch (2.x) or an alternative cryptographic library.

Recommended fix High confidence

Botan 1.11.27 or later (1.11.x stable branch)

  1. 1. Identify the current Botan version in use by checking project dependencies or running 'botan --version'
  2. 2. Update the project's dependency management system (e.g., package.json, setup.py, composer.json, or build system) to specify Botan version 1.11.27 or later
  3. 3. Run the dependency update command appropriate to your package manager (e.g., 'npm update', 'pip install --upgrade botan', or similar)
  4. 4. Rebuild and redeploy the application to include the updated Botan library
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by confirming the installed Botan version is 1.11.27 or higher
Caveat Security-focused patch; minor version bump indicates low risk of breaking changes, but review release notes for any API changes

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

Fix this in Botan Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,020
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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-2016-2196 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