CVE-2016-1234

Publication date 1 June 2016

Last updated 25 August 2025

Ubuntu priority

Cvss 3 Severity Score

Description

Stack-based buffer overflow in the glob implementation in GNU C Library (aka glibc) before 2.24, when GLOB_ALTDIRFUNC is used, allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a long name.

From the Ubuntu Security Team

Alexander Cherepanov discovered a stack-based buffer overflow in the glob implementation of the GNU C Library. An attacker could use this to specially craft a directory layout and cause a denial of service.

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
glibc	17.04 zesty	Not affected
	16.10 yakkety	Not affected
	16.04 LTS xenial	Fixed 2.23-0ubuntu6
	15.10 wily	Ignored end of life
	14.04 LTS trusty	Not in release
	12.04 LTS precise	Not in release
eglibc	17.04 zesty	Not in release
	16.10 yakkety	Not in release
	16.04 LTS xenial	Not in release
	15.10 wily	Not in release
	14.04 LTS trusty	Fixed 2.19-0ubuntu6.10
	12.04 LTS precise	Fixed 2.15-0ubuntu10.16

Notes

sbeattie

see glibc bug for reproducer requires malicious fs layout

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package	Patch details
glibc	Upstream: https://sourceware.org/git/gitweb.cgi?p=glibc.git;h=5171f3079f2cc53e0548fc4967361f4d1ce9d7ea

Severity score breakdown

Parameter	Value
Base score	7.5 · High
Attack vector	Network
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges required	None
User interaction	None
Scope	Unchanged
Confidentiality	None
Integrity impact	None
Availability impact	High
Vector	CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H