CVE-2016-8697

The bm_new function in bitmap.h in potrace before 1.13 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (divide-by-zero error and crash) via a crafted BMP image.

Published: 2017-01-31 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-8697 is rated Low Risk (37.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.24%). 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-2016-8697

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 2025-03-19 0.26% 0.24% -0.02%
2 2025-03-17 0.57% 0.26% -0.31%
3 2024-12-17 — 0.57% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-8697

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-2016-8697

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-8697

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-8697 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (potrace), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-8697
ubuntu low CVE-2016-8697 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (inkscape, potrace), 20 status rows across 10 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 12, ignored 4, DNE 2, needs-triage 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-8697

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-8697

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
potrace_project potrace <= 1.12 cpe:2.3:a:potrace_project:potrace:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-8697

cvelogic Threat Intelligence