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LibibertyApplication · Gnu

CVE-2016-4490

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-02-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
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
Integer overflow in cp-demangle.c in libiberty allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (segmentation fault and crash) via a crafted binary, related to inconsistent use of the long and int types for lengths.

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

Integer overflow vulnerability in libiberty's cp-demangle.c where inconsistent use of long and int types for length calculations allows a crafted binary to trigger a segmentation fault and crash, causing denial of service.

MitigationUpdate libiberty to a version containing the fix for proper type consistency in length calculations, or apply the patch that standardizes type usage for size/length variables to prevent integer overflow.

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
LibibertyApplication
Affected:all versions

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 checks

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

  1. Check if libiberty is present in the environment
    Search for libiberty library files (libiberty.a, libiberty.so) or headers using find / -name '*libiberty*' 2>/dev/null or check package manager (dpkg -l | grep libiberty, rpm -qa | grep libiberty)
    Affected if libiberty libraries or development files are found on the system
  2. Identify applications using the cp-demangle component
    Search for binaries or applications that link against libiberty or contain demangle functionality: ldd <binary> | grep libiberty, or check if tools like c++filt, gdb, or other GCC components are installed
    Affected if Applications linked to libiberty or containing demangling code are in use
  3. Determine if demangling processes untrusted input
    Review application documentation or source code to check if the demangling function (which decodes C++ mangled symbols) processes input from untrusted sources such as external files, network data, or user-supplied strings
    Affected if The demangling functionality can be invoked with input from untrusted or external sources without validation
  4. Check for known vulnerable code patterns in cp-demangle
    If source code is available, search for inconsistent type usage between int and long in length/size calculations within demangle functions, particularly where user-controlled values affect memory allocation
    Affected if Source code shows int/long type inconsistency in length calculations feeding malloc/calloc
  5. Assess exposure through debugging or development tools
    Identify if GDB, objdump, or other development tools that use libiberty's demangler are used to process external binary files, crash dumps, or symbol files
    Affected if Debugging or development tools process external binary files or crash dumps that could contain crafted mangled symbols

The environment is affected if libiberty is present and its demangling functionality can process untrusted or externally-sourced mangled symbol input, since all versions of libiberty contain the integer overflow vulnerability in the cp-demangle component.

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 libiberty to a version containing the fix for proper type consistency in length calculations, or apply the patch that standardizes type usage for size/length variables to prevent integer overflow.

Fix this in Libiberty Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,750
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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-2016-4490 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
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