CVE-2016-1503

dhcpcd before 6.10.0, as used in Android 4.x before 4.4.4, 5.0.x before 5.0.2, 5.1.x before 5.1.1, and 6.x before 2016-04-01 and other products, mismanages option lengths, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow) via a malformed DHCP response, aka internal bug 26461634.

Published: 2016-04-17 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-1503 is rated High Risk (66.7/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 6.34%, 93th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: 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-2016-1503

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 16.18% 6.34% -9.84%
2 2026-05-12 9.38% 16.18% +6.80%
3 2025-12-18 9.38%

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-1503

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]
10.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
10.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-1503

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-1503

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2016-1503 unimportant priority: Debian including 2 source packages (dhcpcd, dhcpcd5), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-1503
gentoo normal CVE-2016-1503: 1 GLSA(s) (201606-07), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/dhcpcd); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-1503
suse medium CVE-2016-1503 severity moderate: SUSE including 1 source package names (dhcpcd), 6 product×package rows across 6 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP3, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 11 SP4, … (6 product lines)): Known Not Affected 6. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-1503/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-1503 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (dhcpcd, dhcpcd5), 42 status rows across 21 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, focal, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 18, not-affected 16, ignored 5, needed 1, needs-triage 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-1503

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-1503

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dhcpcd_project dhcpcd <= 6.9.4 cpe:2.3:a:dhcpcd_project:dhcpcd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.0 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.0.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.0.2 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.0.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.0.3 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.0.4 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.0.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.1.2 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.1.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.2 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.2.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.2.2 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.2.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.3 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.3.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.4 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.4.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.4.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.4.2 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.4.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 4.4.3 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:4.4.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 5.0 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 5.0.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:5.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 5.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 5.1.0 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:5.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
google android 6.0.1 cpe:2.3:o:google:android:6.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-1503

cvelogic Threat Intelligence