CVE-2016-6908
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 · uneditedCharacters from languages are such as Arabic, Hebrew are displayed from RTL (Right To Left) order in Opera 37.0.2192.105088 for Android, due to mishandling of several unicode characters such as U+FE70, U+0622, U+0623 etc and how they are rendered combined with (first strong character) such as an IP address or alphabet could lead to a spoofed URL. It was noticed that by placing neutral characters such as "/", "?" in filepath causes the URL to be flipped and displayed from Right To Left. However, in order for the URL to be spoofed the URL must begin with an IP address followed by neutral characters as omnibox considers IP address to be combination of punctuation and numbers and since LTR (Left To Right) direction is not properly enforced, this causes the entire URL to be treated and rendered from RTL (Right To Left). However, it doesn't have be an IP address, what matters is that first strong character (generally, alphabetic character) in the URL must be an RTL character.
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 confidenceIn Opera 37 for Android, improper handling of RTL unicode characters (U+FE70, U+0622, U+0623) combined with neutral characters like '/' or '?' in URLs causes the entire URL to be rendered and displayed from right-to-left instead of left-to-right. This occurs when the first strong character is an IP address or an RTL character, leading to a visually spoofed URL in the address bar.
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= 37.0.2192.105088CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N
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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Verify Opera Browser version on AndroidOpen Android Settings > Apps > Opera Browser and check the version number, or open Opera and go to Settings > About OperaAffected if Version is exactly 37.0.2192.105088
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Confirm Android platformThis vulnerability affects Opera for Android specifically. Verify the Opera Browser app is running on an Android device or emulatorAffected if Opera 37.0.2192.105088 is running on Android
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Test URL rendering with RTL unicodeVisit a URL containing RTL unicode characters such as U+FE70, U+0622, or U+0623 combined with '/' or '?', for example: http://example.com/[RTL_CHARACTERS]?param=valueAffected if The URL displays from right-to-left in the address bar instead of the standard left-to-right direction, causing visual mismatch between displayed and actual URL
If Opera Browser version 37.0.2192.105088 is installed on Android and URLs containing RTL unicode characters render right-to-left in the address bar, the environment is affected by CVE-2016-6908.
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 dataOpera should enforce explicit LTR direction marks (U+202E or similar) in the omnibox rendering to ensure URLs are always displayed left-to-right regardless of embedded RTL unicode characters.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-6908 — 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-2016-6908 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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