Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2015-8778


Integer overflow in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) before 2.23 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via the size argument to the __hcreate_r function, which triggers out-of-bounds heap-memory access.


Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a CRITICAL severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 9.8, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 10 products from fedoraproject, from debian, from canonical and 7 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2016, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.


Published

2016-04-19T21:59:04.990

Last Modified

2025-04-12T10:46:40.837

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 9.8 (CRITICAL)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

  • Access Vector: NETWORK
  • Access Complexity: LOW
  • Authentication: NONE
  • Confidentiality Impact: PARTIAL
  • Integrity Impact: PARTIAL
  • Availability Impact: PARTIAL
Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

6.4

Weaknesses
  • Type: Primary
    CWE-119

Affected Vendors & Products
Type Vendor Product Version/Range Vulnerable?
Operating System fedoraproject fedora 23 Yes
Operating System debian debian_linux 8.0 Yes
Operating System canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 Yes
Operating System canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 Yes
Operating System canonical ubuntu_linux 15.10 Yes
Application gnu glibc ≤ 2.22 Yes
Application suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 Yes
Application suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 Yes
Application suse linux_enterprise_debuginfo 11 Yes
Operating System opensuse opensuse 13.2 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_desktop 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_desktop 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_desktop 12 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_desktop 12 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_server 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_server 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_server 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_server 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_server 12 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 11 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 12 Yes
Operating System suse linux_enterprise_software_development_kit 12 Yes
Operating System suse suse_linux_enterprise_server 12 Yes

References

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For fedoraproject's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.