CVE-2016-7076

sudo before version 1.8.18p1 is vulnerable to a bypass in the sudo noexec restriction if application run via sudo executed wordexp() C library function with a user supplied argument. A local user permitted to run such application via sudo with noexec restriction could possibly use this flaw to execute arbitrary commands with elevated privileges.

Published: 2018-05-29 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-7076 is rated Low Risk (39.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.50%). Mandatory action: Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2016-7076

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 0.07% 0.50% +0.42%
2 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.07% +0.03%
3 2023-03-07 0.04%

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7076

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.4 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
Privileges required (PR:H)
They need powerful rights—admin, root, or similar—before this pays off.
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.
0.5 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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.
1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7076

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7076

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-7076 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (sudo), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-7076
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7076
suse medium CVE-2016-7076 severity moderate: SUSE including 292 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, …), 382 product×package rows across 89 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, … (89 product lines)): Known Affected 157, Fixed 150, Known Not Affected 75. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7076/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-7076 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (sudo), 14 status rows across 14 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 9, released 3, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-7076

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7076

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sudo_project sudo >= 1.6.8, <= 1.8.18 cpe:2.3:a:sudo_project:sudo:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7076

cvelogic Threat Intelligence