CVE-2016-7166

libarchive before 3.2.0 does not limit the number of recursive decompressions, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and application crash) via a crafted gzip file.

Published: 2016-09-21 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-7166 is rated Moderate Risk (42.4/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.36%). 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-2016-7166

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 2026-02-24 0.25% 0.36% +0.12%
2 2025-03-17 1.38% 0.25% -1.13%
3 2024-12-17 — 1.38% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7166

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/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:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
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.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7166

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7166

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-7166 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libarchive), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-7166
gentoo normal CVE-2016-7166: 1 GLSA(s) (201701-03), 1 atom(s) (app-arch/libarchive); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-7166
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7166
suse medium CVE-2016-7166 severity moderate: SUSE including 8 source package names (bsdcpio-3.1.2-10.el7_2, bsdtar, …), 44 product×package rows across 22 product lines (SUSE Liberty Linux 7, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, … (22 product lines)): Known Not Affected 40, Fixed 4. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7166/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-7166 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libarchive), 5 status rows across 5 suites (precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety): released 4, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-7166

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7166

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
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_hpc_node_eus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_hpc_node_eus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_aus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_aus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server_eus 7.2 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server_eus:7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
libarchive libarchive <= 3.1.901a cpe:2.3:a:libarchive:libarchive:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_desktop 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_hpc_node 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_hpc_node:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_server 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
redhat enterprise_linux_workstation 6.0 cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle linux 6 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:linux:6:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
oracle linux 7 cpe:2.3:o:oracle:linux:7:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7166

URL Tags
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1844.html Third Party Advisory
http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-1850.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/09/08/15 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/09/08/18 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/92901 Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=207362 Issue Tracking
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1347086 Issue Tracking
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/commit/6e06b1c89dd0d16f74894eac4cfc1327a06ee4a0 Issue Tracking Patch
https://github.com/libarchive/libarchive/issues/660 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-03
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