CVE-2016-8661
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 · uneditedLittle Snitch version 3.0 through 3.6.1 suffer from a buffer overflow vulnerability that could be locally exploited which could lead to an escalation of privileges (EoP) and unauthorised ring0 access to the operating system. The buffer overflow is related to insufficient checking of parameters to the "OSMalloc" and "copyin" kernel API calls.
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 confidenceLittle Snitch 3.0-3.6.1 contains a kernel-level buffer overflow in its kernel extension due to insufficient parameter validation on OSMalloc and copyin API calls. This allows a local attacker to achieve privilege escalation to root and gain unauthorized kernel (ring0) access.
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= 3.0= 3.0.1= 3.0.2= 3.0.3= 3.0.4= 3.1= 3.1.1= 3.3= 3.3.1= 3.3.2= 3.3.3= 3.3.4CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Verify Little Snitch installationSearch for Little Snitch application bundle in /Applications or check for the Little Snitch kernel extension (LittleSnitch.kext) in /Library/Extensions or /System/Library/Extensions.Affected if Little Snitch or its kernel extension is present on the system.
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Determine installed Little Snitch versionRight-click Little Snitch.app in Applications, select Get Info, and read the Version field. Alternatively, run: defaults read "/Applications/Little Snitch.app/Contents/Info.plist" CFBundleVersion or similar version key.Affected if The displayed version matches any of these: 3.0, 3.0.1, 3.0.2, 3.0.3, 3.0.4, 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.3, 3.3.1, 3.3.2, 3.3.3, or 3.3.4.
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Confirm kernel extension is loadedRun 'kextstat | grep -i littlesnitch' or 'kextfind -b org.littlesnitch.driver' to check if the Little Snitch kernel extension is currently loaded in memory.Affected if The kernel extension is loaded and the version falls within the affected range.
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Check Little Snitch daemon processesRun 'ps -ax | grep -i little snitch' to list running Little Snitch helper processes and daemons, confirming the software is active.Affected if Little Snitch processes are running and correspond to an affected version number.
You are affected if Little Snitch version 3.0 through 3.3.4 is installed and the kernel extension is loaded or running on your macOS system.
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 Little Snitch to version 3.7 or later. As a kernel extension, this vulnerability grants ring0 access; organizations should prioritize patching given the CVSS 8.4 severity and local EoP capability.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-8661 — 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-2016-8661 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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