CVE-2016-5180

critical
Published 2016-10-03 · Modified 2026-05-06
CVSS v3
9.8
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CVSS v2
7.5
VIR risk
9.8

Description

Heap-based buffer overflow in the ares_create_query function in c-ares 1.x before 1.12.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with an escaped trailing dot.

Predictions

Exploit likelihood
97%
Patch ETA

Heuristic predictions, AS-IS, for prioritization only.

Mitigations

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: debian — https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2016-5180

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: arch — https://security.archlinux.org/ASA-201609-31

vendor Authored 2026-05-27

Vendor advisory: suse — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2016-5180.html

OS impact

OSVersionStatusFixed in
suse slesaffected
debian debianbookwormfixed1.12.0-1
debian debianbullseyefixed1.12.0-1
debian debianforkyfixed1.12.0-1
debian debiansidfixed1.12.0-1
debian debiantrixiefixed1.12.0-1
arch archfixed1.12.0-1
debian debian8.0affected
ubuntu ubuntu12.04affected
ubuntu ubuntu14.04affected
ubuntu ubuntu16.04affected
ubuntu ubuntu16.10affected

Application impact

VendorProductVersionsFixed
c-aresc-ares1.0.0
c-aresc-ares1.1.0
c-aresc-ares1.2.0
c-aresc-ares1.2.1
c-aresc-ares1.3.0
c-aresc-ares1.3.1
c-aresc-ares1.3.2
c-aresc-ares1.4.0
c-aresc-ares1.5.0
c-aresc-ares1.5.1
c-aresc-ares1.5.2
c-aresc-ares1.5.3
c-aresc-ares1.6.0
c-aresc-ares1.7.0
c-aresc-ares1.7.1
c-aresc-ares1.7.2
c-aresc-ares1.7.3
c-aresc-ares1.7.4
c-aresc-ares1.7.5
c-aresc-ares1.8.0
c-aresc-ares1.9.0
c-aresc-ares1.9.1
c-aresc-ares1.10.0
c-ares_projectc-ares1.11.0
nodejs nodejsnode.js{"startIncluding":"0.10.0","endExcluding":"0.10.48"}0.10.48

References

CWEs

CWE-787

Verify integrity in audit chain (admin only). AS-IS.