CVE-2016-4303

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 7%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: None knownExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

The parse_string function in cjson.c in the cJSON library mishandles UTF8/16 strings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execute arbitrary code via a non-hex character in a JSON string, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
51(Track)
EG Risk 51/100SSVC: 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 computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation7% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS PROB
7%
EPSS %ILE
94%
KEV
Not listed

Published

September 26, 2016

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Sep 16, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. Patch available. Sources: github_commit.
generic
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/esnet/security/master/cve-2016-4303/esnet-secadv-2016-0001.txt.asc
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 2080-1] iperf3 security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00023.html
github_commit

commit 91f2fa59e8ed (esnet/iperf)

Fix landed in esnet/iperf commit 91f2fa59e8ed — awaiting tagged release

https://github.com/esnet/iperf/commit/91f2fa59e8ed80dfbf400add0164ee0e508e412a
generic🟡 PoC Available

TALOS-2016-0164 || Cisco Talos Intelligence Group - Comprehensive Threat Intelligence

http://www.talosintelligence.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0164/
generic

iperf3 Project News — iperf3 3.21 documentation

http://software.es.net/iperf/news.html#security-issue-iperf-3-1-3-iperf-3-0-12-released

Patch Availability(1)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibiperf-dev (3.0.11-1ubuntu0.1~esm1) @ xenial2026-05-20ubuntu

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

(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
iperf3—3.1.3-1—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
iperf3—3.1.3-1—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
iperf3—3.1.3-1—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
iperf3—3.1.3-1—
Debian:8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFixed inDependents
iperf33.0.7-13.0.7-1+deb8u1—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

All Vendor Advisories

(1)

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 5× in last 7d / 18× 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 156 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-09-19 15:35 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-09-17 19:21 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-09-14 21:14 UTCOSV refresh
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  1. 2026-08-10 11:09 UTCOSV refresh
  2. 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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  15. 2026-07-25 11:41 UTCOSV refresh
  16. 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-07-23 01:23 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-07-22 22:02 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
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  28. 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
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  40. 2026-07-08 06:05 UTCOSV refresh
  41. 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2016-4303?
CVE-2016-4303 is a critical vulnerability published on September 26, 2016. The parse_string function in cjson.c in the cJSON library mishandles UTF8/16 strings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execute arbitrary code via a non-hex character in a JSON string, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow.
When was CVE-2016-4303 disclosed?
CVE-2016-4303 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on September 26, 2016, with the most recent update on June 17, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2016-4303 actively exploited?
CVE-2016-4303 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 7% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, which ranks it in the top 6.2% of all scored CVEs.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-4303?
CVE-2016-4303 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2016-4303?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2016-4303, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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