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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2016-4302 json

Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_codes function in archive_read_support_format_rar.c in libarchive before 3.2.1 allows remote attack…

published 2016-09-21 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-5302

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.8%
EPSS 4.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_codes function in archive_read_support_format_rar.c in libarchive before 3.2.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a RAR file with a zero-sized dictionary.

Patch / fix

  • libarchive Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.2.1-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-4302

  • libarchive Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.1.2-7ubuntu2.3
  • libarchive Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 3.1.2-11ubuntu0.16.04.2

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-4302

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • libarchive RHEL 7 3.1.2-10.el7_2
  • bsdtar RHEL 7 3.1.2-10.el7_2
  • bsdcpio RHEL 7 3.1.2-10.el7_2

red hat advisories RHSA-2016:1844

  • libarchive SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES 12 SP1, SLED 12 SP1 +1 more 3.1.2-22.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2016:1909-1

  • libarchive Alpine 3.4 3.2.1-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2016-4302

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2016-4302 updated cvss 7.7

libarchive: Heap buffer overflow in the Rar decompression functionality

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) libarchive 3.1.2-10.el7_2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) bsdtar 3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdcpio 3.1.2-10.el7_2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) libarchive 3.1.2-10.el7_2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) bsdtar 3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdcpio 3.1.2-10.el7_2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) libarchive 3.1.2-10.el7_2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) bsdtar 3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdcpio 3.1.2-10.el7_2
    +2 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) libarchive 3.1.2-10.el7_2 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) bsdtar 3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdcpio 3.1.2-10.el7_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1844
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 libarchive
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

4.76% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • blog.talosintel.com http://blog.talosintel.com/2016/06/the-poisoned-archives.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • talosintel.com http://www.talosintel.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0154/ referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.