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Fencer Vulns
high 7.5

CVE-2016-5038 json

The dwarf_get_macro_startend_file function in dwarf_macro5.c in libdwarf before 20160923 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of servi…

published 2017-02-17 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-5991

cvss
7.5
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.4%
EPSS 4.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The dwarf_get_macro_startend_file function in dwarf_macro5.c in libdwarf before 20160923 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read) via a crafted string offset for .debug_str.

Patch / fix

  • libdwarf_project libdwarf 2016-09-23
  • dwarfutils Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 20160507+git20160523.9086738-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-5038

  • dwarfutils Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 20120410-2+deb7u2build0.14.04.1
  • dwarfutils Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 20120410-2+deb7u2build0.16.04.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-5038

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

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-2016-5038 updated cvss 1.7

libdwarf: Out-of-bounds read in dwarf_get_macro_startend_file()

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 libdwarf, libdwarf-tools
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”

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

4.38% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • openwall.com http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/05/25/1 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 7.5 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
NVD 2.0 5.0 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns 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.