CVE-2016-7420

Crypto++ (aka cryptopp) through 5.6.4 does not document the requirement for a compile-time NDEBUG definition disabling the many assert calls that are unintended in production use, which might allow context-dependent attackers to obtain sensitive information by leveraging access to process memory after an assertion failure, as demonstrated by reading a core dump.

Published: 2016-09-16 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-7420 is rated Moderate Risk (53.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.29%). EPSS rose +1.91% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2016-7420

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 0.38% 2.29% +1.91%
2 2026-04-12 0.68% 0.38% -0.30%
3 2025-11-15 — 0.68% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-7420

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-7420

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-7420

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2016-7420 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libcrypto++), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-7420
suse low CVE-2016-7420 severity low: SUSE including 4 source package names (libcryptopp, libcryptopp-devel, libcryptopp5_6_5, libcryptopp8_6_0), 43 product×package rows across 19 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (19 product lines)): Known Not Affected 43. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-7420/
ubuntu negligible CVE-2016-7420 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libcrypto++), 8 status rows across 8 suites (artful, bionic, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): ignored 7, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-7420

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-7420

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
cryptopp crypto\+\+ <= 5.6.4 cpe:2.3:a:cryptopp:crypto\+\+:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-7420

cvelogic Threat Intelligence