CVE-2016-4554

mime_header.cc in Squid before 3.5.18 allows remote attackers to bypass intended same-origin restrictions and possibly conduct cache-poisoning attacks via a crafted HTTP Host header, aka a "header smuggling" issue.

Published: 2016-05-10 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-4554 is rated Moderate Risk (64.4/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 68.86%, 99th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. Mandatory action: 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-2016-4554

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 2026-02-18 73.39% 68.86% -4.53%
2 2025-12-28 40.57% 73.39% +32.81%
3 2025-12-27 40.57%

Full EPSS history (18 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-4554

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.6 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/C:N/I:H/A:N 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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:C)
Breaking this can reach past the original component and bite other resources—bigger blast radius.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 4.0 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-4554

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-4554

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-4554 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (squid), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-4554
gentoo normal CVE-2016-4554: 1 GLSA(s) (201607-01), 1 atom(s) (net-proxy/squid); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-4554
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4554
suse medium CVE-2016-4554 severity moderate: SUSE including 15 source package names (squid, squid-2.7.STABLE5-2.12.29.1, …), 42 product×package rows across 34 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE Liberty Linux 7, … (34 product lines)): Fixed 24, Known Not Affected 18. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-4554/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-4554 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (squid3), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, wily, xenial): released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-4554

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-4554

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
oracle linux 6 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:linux:6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle linux 7 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:linux:7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
squid-cache squid <= 3.5.17 cpe:2.3:a:squid-cache:squid:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-4554

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00010.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-08/msg00040.html
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-08/msg00069.html
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3625
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035769 Third Party Advisory
http://www.squid-cache.org/Advisories/SQUID-2016_8.txt Vendor Advisory
http://www.squid-cache.org/Versions/v3/3.1/changesets/SQUID-2016_8.patch Patch
http://www.squid-cache.org/Versions/v3/3.2/changesets/SQUID-2016_8.patch Patch
http://www.squid-cache.org/Versions/v3/3.3/changesets/SQUID-2016_8.patch Patch
http://www.squid-cache.org/Versions/v3/3.4/changesets/SQUID-2016_8.patch Patch
http://www.squid-cache.org/Versions/v3/3.5/changesets/SQUID-2016_8.patch Patch
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2995-1 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1138
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1139
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1140
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201607-01
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