CVE-2016-8005
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 · uneditedFile extension filtering vulnerability in Intel Security McAfee Email Gateway (MEG) before 7.6.404h1128596 allows attackers to fail to identify the file name properly via scanning an email with a forged attached filename that uses a null byte within the filename extension.
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 confidenceA null byte injection vulnerability in McAfee Email Gateway allows attackers to bypass file extension filtering by embedding a null byte within the filename extension of email attachments. The scanning engine processes only the portion of the filename before the null byte, causing it to misidentify the file type (e.g., treating an executable as a benign file based on a fake extension before the null byte).
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<= 7.6.401CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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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Identify installed McAfee Email Gateway versionAccess the appliance management console or check the product version through the system information panel. The version is typically displayed on the main dashboard or in the 'About' section of the administration interface.Affected if The installed version is 7.6.401 or any version lower than 7.6.401.
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Confirm attachment filtering is activeReview the email gateway's attachment filtering policies in the administration console. Look for rules that filter or block attachments based on file extensions (e.g., .exe, .bat, .scr).Affected if Extension-based attachment filtering rules are configured and active.
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Check if content-based file analysis is disabledExamine the attachment scanning configuration to determine whether file content analysis (magic byte/header inspection) is enabled. This is typically found in the advanced scanning settings or content filter configuration.Affected if Content-based file type analysis is disabled or not configured, meaning the system relies solely on filename extensions for file type identification.
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Verify null byte handling in filename parsingIf available, review scanning engine logs or configuration for any null byte filtering or sanitization settings. Test with a benign file containing a null byte in the extension to observe how the engine processes it.Affected if The scanning engine does not strip or properly handle null bytes in filenames, allowing the portion after the null byte to be processed differently than the portion before.
You are affected if your McAfee Email Gateway version is 7.6.401 or earlier and attachment filtering relies on filename extensions without content-based analysis enabled.
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 dataUpgrade McAfee Email Gateway to version 7.6.404h1128596 or later, which includes proper null byte handling in filename parsing. As a compensating control, enable file content-based analysis (e.g., magic byte inspection) rather than relying solely on filename extensions for attachment filtering.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-8005 — 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-2016-8005 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data