CVE-2016-7409

The dbclient and server in Dropbear SSH before 2016.74, when compiled with DEBUG_TRACE, allows local users to read process memory via the -v argument, related to a failed remote ident.

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-2016-7409 is rated Low Risk (34.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.45%). 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-2016-7409

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 0.12% 0.45% +0.33%
2 2026-01-15 0.22% 0.12% -0.10%
3 2026-01-04 — 0.22% —

Full EPSS history (38 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7409

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:L/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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7409

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7409

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2016-7409 unimportant 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-2016-7409
gentoo normal CVE-2016-7409: 1 GLSA(s) (201702-23), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/dropbear); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-7409
ubuntu low CVE-2016-7409 low 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-2016-7409

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7409

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

References for CVE-2016-7409

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/09/15/2 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/92973 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1376353 Issue Tracking
https://secure.ucc.asn.au/hg/dropbear/rev/6a14b1f6dc04 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-23 Patch Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
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