CVE-2016-1247

Exp

The nginx package before 1.6.2-5+deb8u3 on Debian jessie, the nginx packages before 1.4.6-1ubuntu3.6 on Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, before 1.10.0-0ubuntu0.16.04.3 on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and before 1.10.1-0ubuntu1.1 on Ubuntu 16.10, and the nginx ebuild before 1.10.2-r3 on Gentoo allow local users with access to the web server user account to gain root privileges via a symlink attack on the error log.

Published: 2016-11-29 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-1247 is rated High Exploit Risk (78.5/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 9.83%, 93th percentile). 5 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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-2016-1247

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
40768 exploit_db edb 2016-11-16 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-1247

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 2026-05-20 10.07% 9.83% -0.24%
2 2026-05-07 9.83% 10.07% +0.24%
3 2026-04-01 — 9.83% —

Full EPSS history (42 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-1247

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-1247

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-1247

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-1247 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (nginx), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-1247
gentoo normal CVE-2016-1247: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-22), 1 atom(s) (www-servers/nginx); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-1247
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1247
suse medium CVE-2016-1247 severity moderate: SUSE including 7 source package names (nginx, nginx-source, …), 10 product×package rows across 5 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 15-LTSS, SUSE Linux Enterprise Module for Server Applications 15 SP1, … (5 product lines)): Fixed 5, Known Not Affected 5. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1247/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-1247 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (nginx), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety): released 3, needs-triage 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-1247

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-1247

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
f5 nginx <= 1.10.1 cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 nginx <= 1.10.0 cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 nginx <= 1.6.2 cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
f5 nginx <= 1.4.3 cpe:2.3:a:f5:nginx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 33 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 34 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 35 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-1247

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/139750/Nginx-Debian-Based-Distros-Root-Privilege-Escalation.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Nov/78 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2017/Jan/33 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3701 Vendor Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/539796/100/0/threaded Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/93903 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1037104 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3114-1 Vendor Advisory
https://legalhackers.com/advisories/Nginx-Exploit-Deb-Root-PrivEsc-CVE-2016-1247.html Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CBIZEKHBOCKO7FUMCO4X53ENMWU5OYFX/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/ESTIADC7BDB6VTH4JAP6C6OCW2CQ4NHP/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/P3WOO7E5R2HT5XVOIOFPEFALILVOWZUF/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-22 Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40768/ Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTswN1k1fQs Exploit Third Party Advisory
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