CVE-2016-1252

Exp

The apt package in Debian jessie before 1.0.9.8.4, in Debian unstable before 1.4~beta2, in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS before 1.0.1ubuntu2.17, in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS before 1.2.15ubuntu0.2, and in Ubuntu 16.10 before 1.3.2ubuntu0.1 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to bypass a repository-signing protection mechanism by leveraging improper error handling when validating InRelease file signatures.

Published: 2017-12-05 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-1252 is rated High Exploit Risk (65/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.96%). 4 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-2016-1252

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
40916 exploit_db edb 2016-12-14 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-2016-1252

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 2025-03-30 11.73% 5.96% -5.78%
2 2025-03-29 5.96% 11.73% +5.78%
3 2025-03-17 — 5.96% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-1252

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N 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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-1252

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-1252

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-1252 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (apt), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-1252
ubuntu high CVE-2016-1252 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (apt), 6 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): released 4, needs-triage 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-1252

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-1252

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
debian advanced_package_tool < 1.0.9.8.4 cpe:2.3:a:debian:advanced_package_tool:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-1252

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140145/apt-Repository-Signing-Bypass.html Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3156-1 Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1020 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1647467 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3733 Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40916/ Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
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