CVE-2016-9686

The Puppet Communications Protocol (PCP) Broker incorrectly validates message header sizes. An attacker could use this to crash the PCP Broker, preventing commands from being sent to agents. This is resolved in Puppet Enterprise 2016.4.3 and 2016.5.2.

Published: 2017-02-08 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2016-9686 is rated Moderate Risk (45.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.27%). 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-2016-9686

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 0.38% 1.27% +0.90%
2 2026-03-03 0.52% 0.38% -0.14%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.52% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2016-9686

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L 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:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 3.9 1.4 [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-2016-9686

OS Trackers for CVE-2016-9686

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2016-9686 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (puppet), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-9686

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2016-9686

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
puppet puppet_enterprise >= 2016.4.0, < 2016.4.3 cpe:2.3:a:puppet:puppet_enterprise:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
puppet puppet_enterprise 2016.5.1 cpe:2.3:a:puppet:puppet_enterprise:2016.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2016-9686

cvelogic Threat Intelligence