CVE-2016-4332

Exp

The library's failure to check if certain message types support a particular flag, the HDF5 1.8.16 library will cast the structure to an alternative structure and then assign to fields that aren't supported by the message type and the library will write outside the bounds of the heap buffer. This can lead to code execution under the context of the library.

Published: 2016-11-18 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-4332 is rated High Exploit Risk (68.3/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.81%). 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-2016-4332

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-4332

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 0.08% 0.81% +0.73%
2 2025-03-31 0.19% 0.08% -0.10%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.19% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-4332

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/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:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
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 6.0 [email protected]
6.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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.
 3.4 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-4332

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-4332

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-4332 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (hdf5), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-4332
gentoo normal CVE-2016-4332: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-13), 1 atom(s) (sci-libs/hdf5); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-4332
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4332
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-4332 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (hdf5), 8 status rows across 8 suites (artful, bionic, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): ignored 4, released 3, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-4332

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-4332

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
hdfgroup hdf5 1.8.16 cpe:2.3:a:hdfgroup:hdf5:1.8.16:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-4332

cvelogic Threat Intelligence