CVE-2016-4302

Exp

Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_codes function in archive_read_support_format_rar.c in libarchive before 3.2.1 allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code via a RAR file with a zero-sized dictionary.

Published: 2016-09-21 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-4302 is rated High Exploit Risk (81.3/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.78%, 91th percentile). 2 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +3.31% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2016-4302

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-4302

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 1.46% 4.78% +3.31%
2 2026-05-27 1.63% 1.46% -0.17%
3 2026-05-23 — 1.63% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-4302

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]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-4302

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-4302

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-4302 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libarchive), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-4302
gentoo normal CVE-2016-4302: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-03), 1 atom(s) (app-arch/libarchive); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-4302
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4302
suse medium CVE-2016-4302 severity moderate: SUSE including 12 source package names (bsdcpio-3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdtar, …), 32 product×package rows across 26 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 7, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, … (26 product lines)): Fixed 22, Known Not Affected 10. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4302/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-4302 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libarchive), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial): released 4, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-4302

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-4302

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_hpc_node 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_hpc_node:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_hpc_node_eus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_hpc_node_eus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
libarchive libarchive <= 3.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:libarchive:libarchive:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-4302

URL Tags
http://blog.talosintel.com/2016/06/the-poisoned-archives.html Exploit Third Party Advisory
http://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=1348444 Issue Tracking
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1844.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3657
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91331 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.talosintel.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0154/ Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/commit/05caadc7eedbef471ac9610809ba683f0c698700 Issue Tracking Patch
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/issues/719 Issue Tracking Patch
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-03
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