CVE-2016-7407

The dropbearconvert command in Dropbear SSH before 2016.74 allows attackers to execute arbitrary code via a crafted OpenSSH key file.

Published: 2017-03-03 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-7407 is rated High Risk (75.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 5.54%, 92th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +4.52% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2016-7407

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 1.03% 5.54% +4.52%
2 2026-03-04 0.82% 1.03% +0.21%
3 2026-03-01 — 0.82% —

Full EPSS history (42 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7407

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]
10.0 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 10.0 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7407

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7407

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-7407 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dropbear), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-7407
gentoo normal CVE-2016-7407: 1 GLSA(s) (201702-23), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/dropbear); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-7407
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-7407 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dropbear), 23 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): not-affected 19, DNE 1, ignored 1, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-7407

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7407

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
dropbear_ssh_project dropbear_ssh <= 2016.73 cpe:2.3:a:dropbear_ssh_project:dropbear_ssh:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7407

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/09/15/2 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/92972 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1376353 Issue Tracking
https://secure.ucc.asn.au/hg/dropbear/rev/34e6127ef02e Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-23 Patch Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
cvelogic Threat Intelligence