CVE-2016-3634
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 · uneditedThe tagCompare function in tif_dirinfo.c in the thumbnail tool in LibTIFF 4.0.6 and earlier allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via vectors related to field_tag matching.
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 confidenceAn out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the tagCompare function in tif_dirinfo.c within LibTIFF's thumbnail tool. The vulnerability occurs when processing TIFF files where field_tag matching causes the function to read memory outside allocated bounds, leading to denial of service. The issue is exploitable remotely via specially crafted TIFF files.
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<= 4.0.6CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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.
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Identify installed LibTIFF versionRun 'tiffinfo --version' or 'tifftopnm --version' to determine the LibTIFF version number, or check your system's package manager for the installed libtiff package versionAffected if The version is 4.0.6 or earlier (any version <= 4.0.6)
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Confirm thumbnail tool presenceCheck if the LibTIFF thumbnail tool is installed on the system by searching for binaries named 'thumbnail' or checking for tiff-related utilities in /usr/bin or /usr/local/binAffected if The thumbnail tool binary exists on the system
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Verify thumbnail tool is executableAttempt to run 'thumbnail' or 'thumbnail --help' from the command line to confirm the tool is accessible and executableAffected if The tool can be invoked and processes TIFF files
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Identify processing of untrusted TIFF filesReview system logs, file processing workflows, or applications that invoke the thumbnail tool to determine if they handle TIFF files from untrusted or unknown sourcesAffected if The tool is used to process TIFF files from untrusted or unknown origins
The environment is affected if LibTIFF version 4.0.6 or earlier is installed AND the thumbnail tool is available for processing TIFF files, especially those from untrusted sources.
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 LibTIFF to version 4.0.7 or later which contains the patch for this vulnerability. If immediate updating is not feasible, avoid processing untrusted or unknown TIFF files with the thumbnail tool until the update can be applied.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-3634 — 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-2016-3634 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
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- 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
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