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Enterprise LinuxOperating system · Redhat

CVE-2016-3616

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-02-13
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
The cjpeg utility in libjpeg allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) or execute arbitrary code via a crafted file.

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 · moderate confidence

The cjpeg utility in libjpeg contains a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability when processing specially crafted JPEG files, which can cause a denial of service (application crash) or potentially allow arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpdate libjpeg to the patched version that addresses this vulnerability, and avoid processing untrusted or unknown JPEG files with the cjpeg utility until the update is applied.

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
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.4
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 16.04= 18.04= 18.10
Libjpeg TurboApplication
Affected:= 7.4

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
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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Locate the cjpeg utility
    Run 'which cjpeg' or 'find /usr -name cjpeg 2>/dev/null' to find the cjpeg binary on the system.
    Affected if The cjpeg utility is present on the system.
  2. Identify the installed libjpeg version
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep libjpeg' (Debian/Ubuntu) or 'rpm -qa | grep libjpeg' (RHEL) to list installed libjpeg packages and their versions.
    Affected if The displayed version matches an affected version: Libjpeg Turbo 7.4, or the library version is 7.4 on RHEL 8.0, or the library version is 8.0 on Debian 8.0, or Ubuntu versions 12.04, 14.04, 16.04, 18.04, or 18.04.
  3. Check libjpeg-turbo version directly
    Run 'cjpeg -version' if available, or check the shared library version with 'ldd $(which cjpeg) | grep jpeg' and then 'dpkg -l | grep <libraryname>' or 'rpm -qf <librarypath>'.
    Affected if The version number shown is 7.4.
  4. Verify the specific package version
    For Ubuntu/Debian: 'apt-cache policy libjpeg-turbo' or 'apt-cache policy libjpeg62-turbo'. For RHEL: 'yum info libjpeg-turbo'.
    Affected if The installed version is 7.4.

A system is affected if it has the cjpeg utility present AND the installed libjpeg version matches 7.4 (for Libjpeg Turbo or RHEL) or 8.0 (for Debian), or is one of the listed Ubuntu versions that shipped with the vulnerable library version.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update libjpeg to the patched version that addresses this vulnerability, and avoid processing untrusted or unknown JPEG files with the cjpeg utility until the update is applied.

Fix this in Enterprise Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,130
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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-2016-3616 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