CVE-2016-7091

sudo: It was discovered that the default sudo configuration on Red Hat Enterprise Linux and possibly other Linux implementations preserves the value of INPUTRC which could lead to information disclosure. A local user with sudo access to a restricted program that uses readline could use this flaw to read content from specially formatted files with elevated privileges provided by sudo.

Published: 2016-12-22 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-7091 is rated Low Risk (29.1/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.40%). 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-2016-7091

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 0.08% 0.40% +0.32%
2 2025-03-17 0.04% 0.08% +0.04%
3 2023-03-07 — 0.04% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7091

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.4 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 0.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:N/A:N 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:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.9 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7091

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7091

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2016-7091 unimportant 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-2016-7091
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7091
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-7091 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (sudo), 4 status rows across 4 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 3, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-7091

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7091

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
redhat enterprise_linux — cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_hpc_node 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_hpc_node:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7091

cvelogic Threat Intelligence