CVE-2015-8779

Stack-based buffer overflow in the catopen function in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) before 2.23 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a long catalog name.

Published: 2016-04-19 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2015-8779 is rated High Risk (73.9/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.97%, 92th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +2.39% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2015-8779

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 3.58% 5.97% +2.39%
2 2026-05-13 5.55% 3.58% -1.97%
3 2026-04-23 — 5.55% —

Full EPSS history (31 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-8779

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-8779

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-8779

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2015-8779 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (glibc), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-8779
gentoo normal CVE-2015-8779: 2 GLSA(s) (201602-02, 201702-11), 1 atom(s) (sys-libs/glibc); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2015-8779
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8779
suse critical CVE-2015-8779 severity critical: SUSE including 561 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 846 product×package rows across 75 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Liberty Linux 7, … (75 product lines)): Fixed 592, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 97. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8779/
ubuntu low CVE-2015-8779 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (eglibc, glibc), 16 status rows across 8 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 7, not-affected 3, released 3, needed 2, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-8779

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-8779

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 cpe:2.3:a:suse:linux_enterprise_debuginfo:11:sp2:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 cpe:2.3:a:suse:linux_enterprise_debuginfo:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 cpe:2.3:a:suse:linux_enterprise_debuginfo:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse opensuse 13.2 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:opensuse:13.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp2:*:*:ltss:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp3:*:*:*:vmware:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:11:sp3:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 11 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:11:sp4:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse suse_linux_enterprise_server 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:suse_linux_enterprise_server:12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 15.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:15.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gnu glibc <= 2.22 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:glibc:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 23 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:23:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-8779

URL Tags
http://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/package-announce/2016-May/184626.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00036.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00037.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00038.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00039.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-02/msg00042.html
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154361/Cisco-Device-Hardcoded-Credentials-GNU-glibc-BusyBox.html
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0680.html
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Sep/7
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3480
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3481
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/19/11
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/20/1
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/82244
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2985-1
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2985-2
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:1916
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/7
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201602-02
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-11
https://sourceware.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=17905
https://www.sourceware.org/ml/libc-alpha/2016-02/msg00502.html Vendor Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence