CVE-2016-3981

Exp

Heap-based buffer overflow in the bmp_read_rows function in pngxrbmp.c in OptiPNG before 0.7.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds read or write access and crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted image file.

Published: 2016-04-13 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-3981 is rated High Exploit Risk (72.8/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.95%). 1 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-2016-3981

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-3981

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 2025-07-25 0.70% 0.95% +0.25%
2 2025-07-13 1.16% 0.70% -0.46%
3 2025-07-12 — 1.16% —

Full EPSS history (12 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-3981

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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: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: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]
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-3981

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-3981

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-3981 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (optipng), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-3981
gentoo normal CVE-2016-3981: 1 GLSA(s) (201608-01), 1 atom(s) (media-gfx/optipng); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-3981
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-3981
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-3981 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (optipng), 4 status rows across 4 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, wily): released 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-3981

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-3981

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
optipng_project optipng <= 0.7.5 cpe:2.3:a:optipng_project:optipng:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 15.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:15.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-3981

cvelogic Threat Intelligence