CVE-2016-6879

The X509_Certificate::allowed_usage function in botan 1.11.x before 1.11.31 might allow attackers to have unspecified impact by leveraging a call with more than one Key_Usage set in the enum value.

Published: 2017-04-10 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-6879 is rated Moderate Risk (45/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.56%). 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-2016-6879

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 0.18% 0.56% +0.37%
2 2025-03-17 0.09% 0.18% +0.10%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.09% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-6879

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: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: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: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 3.6 [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-2016-6879

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-6879

vendor priority summary link
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-6879 medium priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (botan1.10, botan1.8), 12 status rows across 6 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 8, DNE 4. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-6879

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-6879

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
botan_project botan 1.11.0 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.1 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.2 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.3 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.4 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.5 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.6 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.7 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.8 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.9 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.9:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.10 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.11 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.12 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.13 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.14 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.14:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.15 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.15:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.16 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.16:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.17 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.18 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.18:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.19 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.19:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.20 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.20:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.21 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.21:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.22 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.22:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.23 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.23:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.24 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.24:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.25 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.25:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.26 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.26:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.27 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.27:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.28 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.28:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.29 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.29:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
botan_project botan 1.11.30 cpe:2.3:a:botan_project:botan:1.11.30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-6879

URL Tags
https://botan.randombit.net/security.html#id2 Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence