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CairoApplication · Cairographics

CVE-2016-9082

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-02-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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
Integer overflow in the write_png function in cairo 1.14.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid pointer dereference) via a large svg file.

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 · moderate confidence

Integer overflow in cairo 1.14.6's write_png function when processing large SVG files causes an invalid pointer dereference, leading to denial of service. The overflow likely occurs in memory allocation calculations for PNG output.

MitigationUpdate cairo to a patched version; implement bounds checking on dimensions/allocations in write_png and validate SVG file size limits before processing.

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
CairoApplication
Affected:= 1.14.6

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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 cairo library version
    Run `pkg-config --modversion cairo` or examine the cairo library file (e.g., `libcairo.so`) using `readelf -d` or `ldd --version` to confirm the exact version number
    Affected if The version is exactly 1.14.6
  2. Identify applications using cairo write_png
    Search application source code for calls to cairo's write_png function, or for cairo_surface_write_to_png functions that handle SVG-to-PNG conversion
    Affected if The application uses cairo's write_png to convert large SVG files to PNG format
  3. Verify SVG input processing capability
    Inspect the application's file handling to determine if it accepts SVG files as input and converts them to PNG output
    Affected if The system accepts SVG files that could be crafted to produce large PNG dimensions triggering the integer overflow

A user is affected if they are running cairo version 1.14.6 AND their environment uses cairo's write_png function to process SVG files that could result in large PNG outputs, allowing the integer overflow to trigger during memory allocation.

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.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update cairo to a patched version; implement bounds checking on dimensions/allocations in write_png and validate SVG file size limits before processing.

Fix this in Cairo Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,480
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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-2016-9082 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
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