CVE-2016-3189

Use-after-free vulnerability in bzip2recover in bzip2 1.0.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted bzip2 file, related to block ends set to before the start of the block.

Published: 2016-06-30 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-3189 is rated Moderate Risk (54.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 15.68%, 96th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. 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-2016-3189

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 23.71% 15.68% -8.03%
2 2026-03-28 24.18% 23.71% -0.47%
3 2026-03-21 — 24.18% —

Full EPSS history (36 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-3189

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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.
 2.8 3.6 [email protected]
6.5 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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.
 2.8 3.6 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
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-2016-3189

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-3189

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2016-3189: 1 source package rows (bzip2); 15 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 15, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2016-3189
debian low CVE-2016-3189 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (bzip2), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-3189
gentoo normal CVE-2016-3189: 1 GLSA(s) (201708-08), 1 atom(s) (app-arch/bzip2); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-3189
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-3189
suse low CVE-2016-3189 severity low: SUSE including 398 source package names (0.1.0:libbz2-1-1.0.6-5.3.1, 0.1.75:libbz2-1-1.0.6-5.3.1, …), 746 product×package rows across 311 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/bci-minimal, … (311 product lines)): Fixed 589, Known Affected 157. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-3189/
ubuntu low CVE-2016-3189 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (bzip2), 11 status rows across 11 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): ignored 5, not-affected 3, released 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-3189

NVD evaluator notes for CVE-2016-3189

Comment: CWE-416: Use After Free

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-3189

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
bzip bzip2 1.0.6 cpe:2.3:a:bzip:bzip2:1.0.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.7.0, < 3.7.13 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.8.0, < 3.8.13 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.9.0, < 3.9.11 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.10.0, < 3.10.3 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-3189

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153644/Slackware-Security-Advisory-bzip2-Updates.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/153957/FreeBSD-Security-Advisory-FreeBSD-SA-19-18.bzip2.html Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/06/20/1 Mailing List
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91297 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036132 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1319648 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r19b4a70ac52093115fd71d773a7a4f579599e6275a13cfcf6252c3e3%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r1dc4c9b3bd559301bdb1557245f78b8910146efb1ee534b774c5f6af%40%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r481cda41fefb03e04c51484ed14421d812e5ce9e0972edff10f37260%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r4ad2ea01354e394b7fa8c78a184b7e1634d51be9bc0e9e4d7e6c9305%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r5f7ac2bd631ccb12ced65b71ff11f94e76d05b22000795e4a7b61203%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r5f80cf3ade5bb73410643e885fe6b7bf9f0222daf3533e42c7ae240c%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/r6e3962fc9f6a79851f70cffdec5759065969cec9c6708b964464b301%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/ra0adb9653c7de9539b93cc8434143b655f753b9f60580ff260becb2b%40%3Cusers.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/redf17d8ad16140733b25ca402ae825d6dfa9b85f73d9fb3fd0c75d73%40%3Cdev.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.apache.org/thread.html/rffebcbeaace56ff1fed7916700d2f414ca1366386fb1293e99b3e31e%40%3Cjira.kafka.apache.org%3E
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/06/msg00021.html Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Aug/4 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jul/22 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://security.FreeBSD.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-19:18.bzip2.asc Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201708-08 Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4038-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4038-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuoct2020.html Third Party Advisory
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