CVE-2016-9179

lynx: It was found that Lynx doesn't parse the authority component of the URL correctly when the host name part ends with '?', and could instead be tricked into connecting to a different host.

Published: 2016-12-22 Last update: 2026-05-06 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-9179 is rated Moderate Risk (48/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.28%). 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-2016-9179

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 2026-01-21 0.21% 0.28% +0.07%
2 2025-07-20 0.42% 0.21% -0.21%
3 2025-06-19 — 0.42% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9179

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/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: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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:N 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:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-9179

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-9179

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2016-9179 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (lynx), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-9179
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9179
suse medium CVE-2016-9179 severity moderate: SUSE including 2 source package names (lynx-2.8.6-145.1, lynx-2.9.0~dev.9-1.2), 2 product×package rows across 2 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 11 SP4, openSUSE Tumbleweed): Fixed 2. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9179/
ubuntu low CVE-2016-9179 low priority: Ubuntu including 2 source packages (lynx, lynx-cur), 32 status rows across 16 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 16, not-affected 9, ignored 4, needs-triage 2, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-9179

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9179

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
lynx lynx — cpe:2.3:a:lynx:lynx:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9179

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/11/04/1 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94215 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
cvelogic Threat Intelligence