CVE-2016-6814

When an application with unsupported Codehaus versions of Groovy from 1.7.0 to 2.4.3, Apache Groovy 2.4.4 to 2.4.7 on classpath uses standard Java serialization mechanisms, e.g. to communicate between servers or to store local data, it was possible for an attacker to bake a special serialized object that will execute code directly when deserialized. All applications which rely on serialization and do not isolate the code which deserializes objects were subject to this vulnerability.

Published: 2018-01-18 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-6814 is rated High Risk (68.1/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 17.55%, 97th 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-2016-6814

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 24.32% 17.55% -6.77%
2 2026-04-24 25.71% 24.32% -1.40%
3 2026-03-04 25.71%

Full EPSS history (42 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-6814

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/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: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: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.
3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-6814

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2016-6814

GHSA-xphj-m9cc-8fmq · Severity: critical · Ecosystem: maven — Deserialization of Untrusted Data in Groovy

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-6814

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-6814 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (groovy), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-6814
gentoo normal CVE-2016-6814: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-01), 1 atom(s) (dev-java/groovy); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-6814
redhat high https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-6814
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-6814 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (groovy, groovy2), 46 status rows across 23 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 22, not-affected 18, ignored 2, released 2, needed 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-6814

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-6814

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
apache groovy >= 1.7.0, <= 2.4.3 cpe:2.3:a:apache:groovy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
apache groovy >= 2.4.4, <= 2.4.7 cpe:2.3:a:apache:groovy:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-6814

URL Tags
http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-announce/201701.mbox/%3CCADRx3PMZ2hBCGDTY35zYXFGaDnjAs0tc5-upaVs6QN2sYUejyA%40mail.gmail.com%3E Patch Vendor Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017-0272.html Broken Link
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2018-3678067.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2018-4258247.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2018-4428296.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/95429 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1039600 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:0868 Broken Link
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2486 Third Party Advisory
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:2596 Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-01
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujan2020.html
https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpujul2020.html
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujan2019-5072801.html
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2019-5072835.html
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2019-5072832.html
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