CVE-2016-9643

The regex code in Webkit 2.4.11 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption) as demonstrated in a large number of ($ (open parenthesis and dollar) followed by {-2,16} and a large number of +) (plus close parenthesis).

Published: 2017-03-07 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-9643 is rated Moderate Risk (62.2/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.07%). EPSS rose +2.15% 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-2016-9643

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 0.92% 3.07% +2.15%
2 2025-05-25 1.49% 0.92% -0.57%
3 2025-03-30 — 1.49% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9643

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-2016-9643

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-9643

vendor priority summary link
gentoo normal CVE-2016-9643: 1 GLSA(s) (201706-15), 1 atom(s) (net-libs/webkit-gtk); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2016-9643
suse medium CVE-2016-9643 severity moderate: SUSE including 4 source package names (libjavascriptcoregtk-3_0-0, libwebkitgtk-3_0-0, libwebkitgtk3-lang, webkitgtk3), 17 product×package rows across 5 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-BCL, … (5 product lines)): Will Not Fix 17. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-9643/
ubuntu medium CVE-2016-9643 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (qtwebkit, qtwebkit-opensource-src, qtwebkit-source, webkit2gtk, webkitgtk), 95 status rows across 20 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, precise, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): DNE 41, ignored 33, not-affected 15, released 3, needs-triage 2, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2016-9643

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9643

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
webkit webkit 2.4.11 cpe:2.3:a:webkit:webkit:2.4.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9643

cvelogic Threat Intelligence