Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2016-9578
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 · uneditedA vulnerability was discovered in SPICE before 0.13.90 in the server's protocol handling. An attacker able to connect to the SPICE server could send crafted messages which would cause the process to crash.
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 buffer handling vulnerability exists in SPICE server versions prior to 0.13.90 where the protocol parser fails to properly validate incoming messages. An attacker who can establish a network connection to the SPICE server can send specially crafted protocol messages that trigger a buffer overflow or invalid memory access, causing the server process to crash.
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
= 8.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
= 7.3= 7.4
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
= 7.3= 7.4= 7.5
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
= 6.0= 7.0< 0.13.90CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if SPICE server is installedOn Debian/RHEL systems, run: dpkg -l | grep spice or rpm -qa | grep spice. On any system, also check for /usr/sbin/spice-server or look for spice-related packages.Affected if No SPICE packages are found, then the system is not affected.
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Identify the installed SPICE server versionRun: rpm -q spice-server (RHEL) or dpkg -l libspice-server1 (Debian). Alternatively, check the changelog: rpm -q --changelog spice-server | head -20Affected if The version is lower than 0.13.90 (for example, 0.13.1, 0.12.0, etc.).
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Verify the SPICE service is running and listeningRun: ps aux | grep -i spice and netstat -tlnp | grep spice (or ss -tlnp | grep spice). Check if port 5900 or similar SPICE ports are open.Affected if SPICE server is running and bound to a network interface, making it remotely accessible.
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Check SPICE configuration for network exposureInspect /etc/spice/spiced.conf or similar config files. Look for 'listen' directives: grep -r 'listen' /etc/spice/ 2>/dev/nullAffected if SPICE is configured to listen on 0.0.0.0 or an external IP rather than only localhost.
The system is affected if SPICE server is installed with a version lower than 0.13.90 and the service is running and accessible over the network.
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 data0.13.90
Upgrade SPICE server to version 0.13.90 or later. If immediate patching is not feasible, implement network segmentation or firewall rules to limit SPICE port access to trusted clients only.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2016-9578 — 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-2016-9578 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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