CVE-2016-9296

Exp

A null pointer dereference bug affects the 16.02 and many old versions of p7zip. A lack of null pointer check for the variable folders.PackPositions in function CInArchive::ReadAndDecodePackedStreams in CPP/7zip/Archive/7z/7zIn.cpp, as used in the 7z.so library and in 7z applications, will cause a crash and a denial of service when decoding malformed 7z files.

Published: 2016-11-11 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-9296 is rated High Exploit Risk (82.5/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 7.02%, 93th percentile). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +4.87% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2016-9296

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2016-9296

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 2.15% 7.02% +4.87%
2 2026-06-14 1.65% 2.15% +0.49%
3 2026-02-24 — 1.65% —

Full EPSS history (14 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9296

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:N/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: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.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2016-9296

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-9296

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2016-9296: 1 source package rows (p7zip); 5 state rows across 5 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, edge-main); fixed 5, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2016-9296
debian unimportant CVE-2016-9296 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (p7zip), 3 status rows across 3 suites (bookworm, bullseye, trixie): resolved 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-9296
ubuntu low CVE-2016-9296 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (p7zip), 8 status rows across 8 suites (artful, bionic, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): ignored 4, not-affected 3, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-9296

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9296

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
7-zip p7zip 16.02 cpe:2.3:a:7-zip:p7zip:16.02:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9296

URL Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94294 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/yangke/7zip-null-pointer-dereference Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/p7zip/bugs/185/ Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://sourceforge.net/p/p7zip/discussion/383043/thread/648d34db/ Exploit Third Party Advisory
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