CVE-2016-4472

The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716.

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-2016-4472 is rated Moderate Risk (60.7/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.27%). Review affected assets and schedule 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-2016-4472

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 2026-03-04 3.51% 2.27% -1.23%
2 2026-03-01 2.33% 3.51% +1.17%
3 2026-02-21 — 2.33% —

Full EPSS history (47 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-4472

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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.
 2.2 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-2016-4472

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-4472

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-4472 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (expat, libxmltok), 7 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5, open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-4472
gentoo normal CVE-2016-4472: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-21), 1 atom(s) (dev-libs/expat); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-4472
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4472
suse medium CVE-2016-4472 severity moderate: SUSE including 284 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 505 product×package rows across 82 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-BYOS, … (82 product lines)): Fixed 315, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 33. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4472/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-4472 medium priority: Ubuntu including 26 source packages (audacity, ayttm, …), 615 status rows across 24 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 209, DNE 202, ignored 145, needed 29, needs-triage 22, released 8. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-4472

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-4472

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libexpat_project libexpat <= 2.1.1 cpe:2.3:a:libexpat_project:libexpat:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
mcafee policy_auditor < 6.5.1 cpe:2.3:a:mcafee:policy_auditor:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 2.7.0, < 2.7.15 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.3.0, < 3.3.7 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.4.0, < 3.4.7 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.5.0, < 3.5.4 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
python python >= 3.6.0, < 3.6.2 cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-4472

cvelogic Threat Intelligence