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Fencer Intel
high 7.5

CVE-2016-5418 json

The sandboxing code in libarchive 3.2.0 and earlier mishandles hardlink archive entries of non-zero data size, which might allow remote att…

published 2016-09-21 10 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-6363

cvss
7.5
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.7%
EPSS 4.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The sandboxing code in libarchive 3.2.0 and earlier mishandles hardlink archive entries of non-zero data size, which might allow remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a crafted archive file.

Patch / fix

  • libarchive Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.2.1-4

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-5418

  • libarchive Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.1.2-7ubuntu2.4
  • libarchive Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 3.1.2-11ubuntu0.16.04.3

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-5418

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

  • atomic-openshift openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-pod openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-node openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-master openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-clients openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-recycle openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-sdn-ovs openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos
  • atomic-openshift-dockerregistry openshift 3.1 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos

red hat advisories RHSA-2016:1852RHSA-2016:1853RHSA-2016:1850RHSA-2016:1844

  • libarchive SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for SAP 12 SP1, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2 +6 more 3.1.2-25.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2016:2911-1

  • bsdtar openSUSE Tumbleweed 3.2.2-2.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10127-1

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-2016-5418 updated cvss 7.5

libarchive: Archive Entry with type 1 (hardlink), but has a non-zero data size file overwrite

  • 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
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1844
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop (v. 6) libarchive 2.8.3-7.el6_8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Desktop Optional (v. 6) libarchive-devel 2.8.3-7.el6_8, libarchive-debuginfo 2.8.3-7.el6_8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux HPC Node Optional (v. 6) libarchive 2.8.3-7.el6_8 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) libarchive 2.8.3-7.el6_8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1850
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) libarchive 3.1.2-10.el7_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1844
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 6) libarchive-devel 2.8.3-7.el6_8, libarchive-debuginfo 2.8.3-7.el6_8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1850
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server 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 Workstation (v. 6) libarchive 2.8.3-7.el6_8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1850
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) libarchive 3.1.2-10.el7_2
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1844
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 6) libarchive-devel 2.8.3-7.el6_8, libarchive-debuginfo 2.8.3-7.el6_8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1850
show 3 more
  • 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 OpenShift Container Platform 3.2 heapster 1.1.0-1.beta2.el7.1, openshift-ansible 3.2.28-1.git.0.5a85fc5.el7, atomic-openshift 3.2.1.15-1.git.0.d84be7f.el7, atomic-openshift-pod 3.2.1.15-1.git.0.d84be7f.el7, atomic-openshift-utils 3.2.28-1.git.0.5a85fc5.el7, atomic-openshift-node 3.2.1.15-1.git.0.d84be7f.el7, +12 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1853
  • Red Hat OpenShift Enterprise 3.1 atomic-openshift 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos, atomic-openshift-pod 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos, atomic-openshift-node 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos, atomic-openshift-master 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos, atomic-openshift-clients 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos, atomic-openshift-recycle 3.1.1.7-1.git.0.65f396b.el7aos, +4 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2016:1852

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

4.67% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/issues/746 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • gist.github.com https://gist.github.com/anonymous/e48209b03f1dd9625a992717e7b89c4f referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/08/09/2 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.5 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-19 Data Processing Errors
  • CWE-20 Improper Input Validation

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.