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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2016-8863

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-03-07
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.6.20 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
Heap-based buffer overflow in the create_url_list function in gena/gena_device.c in Portable UPnP SDK (aka libupnp) before 1.6.21 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a valid URI followed by an invalid one in the CALLBACK header of an SUBSCRIBE request.

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

Heap-based buffer overflow in the create_url_list function in gena/gena_device.c of Portable UPnP SDK (libupnp) allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via SUBSCRIBE requests with malformed CALLBACK headers containing a valid URI followed by an invalid one.

MitigationUpgrade libupnp to version 1.6.21 or later to obtain the patched version. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement network-level filtering to restrict unauthorized SUBSCRIBE requests and reduce attack surface.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
LibupnpApplication
Affected:<= 1.6.20

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. Identify installed libupnp version
    On Debian: dpkg -l | grep libupnp; or check /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libupnp*.so file version via ls -la; or run: ldd <your_application> | grep upnp
    Affected if Version is 1.6.20 or lower, or package version shows 1:1.6.x with x <= 20
  2. Verify the application uses libupnp GENA functionality
    Inspect the application binary or source code to confirm it links against libupnp and implements GENA (Generic Event Notification Architecture) SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE handlers. Check for inclusion of gena/gena_device.h or similar GENA-related code.
    Affected if Application is linked to libupnp and processes SUBSCRIBE requests via the GENA module
  3. Determine if UPnP service is network-exposed
    Review network configuration: run netstat -tlnp or ss -tlnp to see if any UPnP service ports (typically 1900 for SSDP, 49152-49164 for SOAP) are listening on non-loopback interfaces. Check firewall rules for inbound access to these ports.
    Affected if UPnP service listening on external/network interfaces (0.0.0.0 or public IP) rather than localhost (127.0.0.1) only
  4. Confirm SUBSCRIBE endpoint is reachable
    Test if the GENA SUBSCRIBE endpoint accepts requests from the network. Use: curl -v -X SUBSCRIBE -H "CALLBACK: <invalid>" http://<target>:<port>/<event_path>
    Affected if The SUBSCRIBE handler responds to network requests without authentication filtering

You are affected if your installed libupnp version is 1.6.20 or earlier AND your application uses the GENA SUBSCRIBE functionality AND the service is reachable from the network.

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 1.6.20
Interim mitigation

Upgrade libupnp to version 1.6.21 or later to obtain the patched version. If immediate upgrade is not feasible, implement network-level filtering to restrict unauthorized SUBSCRIBE requests and reduce attack surface.

Recommended fix High confidence

libupnp 1.6.21 or later

  1. 1. Identify the libupnp package version currently installed on the system
  2. 2. Upgrade libupnp to version 1.6.21 or later
  3. 3. For Debian 8.0 systems, run: apt-get update && apt-get install libupnp6 (or libupnp6a)
  4. 4. If using from source, download libupnp 1.6.21 or later from sourceforge.net/projects/pupnp/
  5. 5. Rebuild and reinstall the library
  6. 6. Restart any services that depend on libupnp to ensure the patched version is loaded
  7. 7. Verify the installed version matches or exceeds 1.6.21

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

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation8.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
24.0 hours of engineering $4,160
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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-2016-8863 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