libdwarf 2016-10-21 allows context-dependent attackers to obtain sensitive information or cause a denial of service by using the "malformed dwarf file" approach, related to a "Heap Buffer Over-read" issue affecting the dwarf_util.c component, aka DW201611-006.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2016-9480 is rated High Risk (69.7/100): CVSS Critical severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.32%). Core evidence: EPSS rose +2.88% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 0.44% | 3.32% | +2.88% |
| 2 | 2026-02-28 | 0.25% | 0.44% | +0.19% |
| 3 | 2026-01-21 | — | 0.25% | — |
Full EPSS history (9 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9.1 | 3.0 | CRITICAL |
|
3.9 | 5.2 | [email protected] |
| 6.4 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
10.0 | 4.9 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
not yet assigned | CVE-2016-9480 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (dwarfutils), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-9480 |
redhat
|
medium | — | https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9480 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2016-9480 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (dwarfutils), 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 16, ignored 4, DNE 1, needed 1, needs-triage 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-9480 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| libdwarf_project | libdwarf | 2016-10-21 | cpe:2.3:a:libdwarf_project:libdwarf:2016-10-21:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/94980 | Third Party Advisory VDB Entry |
| https://sourceforge.net/p/libdwarf/bugs/5/ | Permissions Required |
| https://sourceforge.net/p/libdwarf/code/ci/5dd64de047cd5ec479fb11fe7ff2692fd819e5e5/ | Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.prevanders.net/dwarfbug.html | Third Party Advisory |