CVE-2016-5391

libreswan before 3.18 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and pluto daemon restart).

Published: 2017-06-13 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-5391 is rated Moderate Risk (53.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.89%). 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-2016-5391

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 2025-03-30 2.73% 0.89% -1.83%
2 2025-03-29 0.89% 2.73% +1.83%
3 2025-03-17 — 0.89% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-5391

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P 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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-5391

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-5391

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2016-5391 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libreswan), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-5391
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5391
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-5391 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libreswan), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety): DNE 4, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-5391

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-5391

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libreswan libreswan <= 3.17 cpe:2.3:a:libreswan:libreswan:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 23 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:23:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 24 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:24:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-5391

cvelogic Threat Intelligence