dbcve.org
FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2016-7167

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-10-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 7.50.2 or later.
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
Multiple integer overflows in the (1) curl_escape, (2) curl_easy_escape, (3) curl_unescape, and (4) curl_easy_unescape functions in libcurl before 7.50.3 allow attackers to have unspecified impact via a string of length 0xffffffff, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow.

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 vulnerabilities in libcurl's URL encoding/decoding functions (curl_escape, curl_easy_escape, curl_unescape, curl_easy_unescape) allow a string of length 0xffffffff to trigger a heap-based buffer overflow, potentially leading to code execution.

MitigationUpgrade libcurl to version 7.50.3 or later to patch the integer overflows in the escape/unescape functions.

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
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 23= 24= 25
LibcurlApplication
Affected:<= 7.50.2

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. Check installed libcurl version
    Run 'curl --version' or check the library file with 'rpm -q libcurl' on Fedora systems, or use 'ldd --version' to find the linked libcurl version
    Affected if The reported version is 7.50.2 or earlier, or on Fedora if the package version indicates Fedora 23, 24, or 25
  2. Identify if escape/unescape functions are used
    Search application source code for calls to curl_escape, curl_easy_escape, curl_unescape, or curl_easy_unescape functions using grep or code analysis tools
    Affected if The application code contains calls to any of these four functions with user-controlled input
  3. Verify input length handling
    Review code paths that pass string arguments to the escape/unescape functions, checking whether input length validation exists before the call
    Affected if No length validation is performed on strings passed to these functions, allowing potentially very large or malformed length values
  4. Confirm library version against affected range
    Compare your installed libcurl version number to the affected range: versions 7.50.2 and below, or Fedora 23/24/25 packages
    Affected if Your libcurl version is 7.50.2 or lower, or you are running Fedora 23, 24, or 25 with the bundled vulnerable libcurl version

You are affected if your system runs libcurl version 7.50.2 or earlier AND your application uses the curl_escape, curl_easy_escape, curl_unescape, or curl_easy_unescape functions with unvalidated input lengths.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 7.50.2
Interim mitigation

Upgrade libcurl to version 7.50.3 or later to patch the integer overflows in the escape/unescape functions.

Recommended fix High confidence

libcurl 7.50.3 or later

  1. Check current libcurl version using: rpm -q libcurl or curl --version
  2. Upgrade libcurl to version 7.50.3 or later using your package manager: dnf update libcurl (Fedora) or equivalent
  3. Restart any services or applications using libcurl to load the fixed version
  4. Verify the installed version is 7.50.3 or later using: curl --version

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

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA3.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,760
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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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-2016-7167 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