CVE-2016-2090

Off-by-one vulnerability in the fgetwln function in libbsd before 0.8.2 allows attackers to have unspecified impact via unknown vectors, which trigger a heap-based buffer overflow.

Published: 2017-01-13 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-2090 is rated High Risk (69.2/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.22%). 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-2016-2090

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 3.49% 3.22% -0.26%
2 2026-05-28 1.94% 3.49% +1.54%
3 2026-05-13 — 1.94% —

Full EPSS history (15 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-2090

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.1 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.1/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-2016-2090

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-2090

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-2090 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libbsd), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-2090
gentoo normal CVE-2016-2090: 1 GLSA(s) (201607-13), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/libbsd); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-2090
ubuntu low CVE-2016-2090 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libbsd), 13 status rows across 13 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, precise, trusty, upstream, vivid, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 9, ignored 2, released 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-2090

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-2090

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
fedoraproject fedora 24 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:24:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 25 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:25:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
freedesktop libbsd < 0.8.2 cpe:2.3:a:freedesktop:libbsd:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
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 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-2090

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/01/28/5 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://blog.fuzzing-project.org/36-Heap-buffer-overflow-in-fgetwln-function-of-libbsd.html Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=93881 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/libbsd/commit/?id=c8f0723d2b4520bdd6b9eb7c3e7976de726d7ff7 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/12/msg00036.html Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/7KJE5SPSX7HEKLZ34LUTZLXWPEL2K353/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/DIQKQ42Z7553D46QY3IMIQKS52QTNIHY/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-13 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4243-1/ Third Party Advisory
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