CVE-2015-8925

Exp

The readline function in archive_read_support_format_mtree.c in libarchive before 3.2.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid read) via a crafted mtree file, related to newline parsing.

Published: 2016-09-20 Last update: 2026-06-17 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2015-8925 is rated High Exploit Risk (66.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.07%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +1.56% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2015-8925

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2015-8925

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 0.51% 2.07% +1.56%
2 2026-01-14 0.56% 0.51% -0.06%
3 2025-11-07 0.56%

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2015-8925

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
1.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2015-8925

OS Trackers for CVE-2015-8925

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2015-8925 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libarchive), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2015-8925
gentoo normal CVE-2015-8925: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-03), 1 atom(s) (app-arch/libarchive); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2015-8925
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8925
suse medium CVE-2015-8925 severity moderate: SUSE including 10 source package names (bsdcpio-3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdtar-3.1.2-10.el7_2, …), 24 product×package rows across 21 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 7, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, … (21 product lines)): Fixed 24. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2015-8925/
ubuntu medium CVE-2015-8925 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libarchive), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial): released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2015-8925

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2015-8925

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
libarchive libarchive <= 3.1.901a cpe:2.3:a:libarchive:libarchive:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_desktop 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_desktop:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_server 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_server:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*
suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 12 cpe:2.3:o:suse:linux_enterprise_software_development_kit:12:sp1:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2015-8925

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-07/msg00025.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1844.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3657
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/06/17/2 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/06/17/5 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91306
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3033-1 Third Party Advisory
https://blog.fuzzing-project.org/47-Many-invalid-memory-access-issues-in-libarchive.html Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/issues/516 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-03
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