The xmlDictAddString function in libxml2 before 2.9.4, as used in Apple iOS before 9.3.2, OS X before 10.11.5, tvOS before 9.2.1, and watchOS before 2.2.1, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer over-read) via a crafted XML document.
CVE-2016-1839
Score 5.5 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 5.5; sources differ by 0.0.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 5.5
- EG Score
- 5.5(medium)
- EG Risk
- 55(Track)EG Risk 55/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity55% × 45%Exploitation65% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 7%
- EPSS %ILE
- 94%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
May 20, 2016
Last Modified
June 17, 2026
References (48)
- product-security@applehttp://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2016/May/msg00001.html
- product-security@applehttp://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2016/May/msg00002.html
- product-security@applehttp://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2016/May/msg00003.html
- product-security@applehttp://lists.apple.com/archives/security-announce/2016/May/msg00004.html
- product-security@applehttp://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-2957.html
- product-security@applehttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/bulletinjul2016-3090568.html
- product-security@applehttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinjul2016-3090544.html
- product-security@applehttp://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinjul2016-3090546.html
- product-security@applehttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/90691
- product-security@applehttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035890
- product-security@applehttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1038623
- product-security@applehttp://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2994-1
- product-security@applehttp://xmlsoft.org/news.html
- product-security@applehttps://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1292
- product-security@applehttps://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=758605
Patch Availability(3)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | python-libxml2 (2.9.3+dfsg1-1ubuntu0.1) @ xenial | 2026-05-22 | ubuntu |
| redhat | patch | 2016-12-15 | redhat |
| redhat | libxml2-0:2.9.1-6.el7_2.3 | 2016-06-23 | redhat |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
Affected Packages
(6 across 6 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | — | 2.9.3+dfsg1-1.1 | — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | — | 2.9.3+dfsg1-1.1 | — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | — | 2.9.3+dfsg1-1.1 | — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | — | 2.9.3+dfsg1-1.1 | — |
Debian:7(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | 2.8.0+dfsg1-7+nmu1 ... 2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy5 (8 versions) | 2.8.0+dfsg1-7+wheezy6 | — |
Debian:8(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| libxml2 | 2.9.1+dfsg1-5, 2.9.1+dfsg1-5+deb8u1 | 2.9.1+dfsg1-5+deb8u2 | — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
All Vendor Advisories
(3)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 19× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 144 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-19 15:35 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-19 00:36 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-17 19:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 16:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-10 09:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-07 15:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 03:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-31 04:20 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-30 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 14:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-23 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-17 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 02:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:25 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-14 12:16 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-11 13:36 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 10:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-02 02:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-01 04:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 00:37 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-28 15:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 14:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-25 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:01 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 06:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 10:07 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 15:30 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-39491✓ verifiedFirst seen Feb 24, 2016
libxml2 - xmlDictAddString Heap Buffer Overread
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2016-1839?
When was CVE-2016-1839 disclosed?
Is CVE-2016-1839 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-1839?
How do I remediate CVE-2016-1839?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2016-1839
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2016-1839?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.