The route manager in FlightGear before 2016.4.4 allows remote attackers to write to arbitrary files via a crafted Nasal script.

published 2017-02-22 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2016-10742

cvss: 7.5; version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev: Not listed; not in CISA's catalog
epss: 3.2%; EPSS 3.2% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 88%
public exploits: 0; none known

Patch / fix

distros 3 links 4

debian ubuntu opensuse

flightgear Debian 13, Debian 12 1:2016.4.3+dfsg-1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2016-9956

flightgear Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 3.4.0-3ubuntu1.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2016-9956

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

FlightGear openSUSE Tumbleweed 2020.3.11-1.3

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:10595-1

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-2016-9956 updated 2026-01-09 cvss 7.8

FlightGear: Route manager allows overwrite of arbitrary files

Red Hat All currently supported Red Hat products
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

3.24% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 88% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

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-284 Improper Access Control

References

sourceforge.net /p/flightgear/flightgear/ci/280cd523686fbdb175d50417266d2487a8ce67d2/
issue-tracking, patch, third-party-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2016/12/15/10
mailing-list, patch, third-party-advisory
sourceforge.net /projects/flightgear/files/release-2016.4/
patch, release-notes, third-party-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2016/12/14/11
mailing-list, patch, third-party-advisory
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DB3B5XBB2NL2O2U4WNYGH7ZL45Q4UHGG/
vendor-advisory
lists.fedoraproject.org /archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/BZKAN7V6UOHSRFWO567XMN4O6WXTSL32/
vendor-advisory
debian.org /security/2016/dsa-3742
vendor-advisory, third-party-advisory
usn.ubuntu.com /4588-1/
vendor-advisory
securityfocus.com /bid/94945
vdb-entry, third-party-advisory
openwall.com /lists/oss-security/2016/12/16/5
mailing-list, third-party-advisory

Sources

CVE List CVE-2016-9956
NVD CVE-2016-9956

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.

Summary