Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2016-2365

A denial of service vulnerability exists in the handling of the MXIT protocol in Pidgin. Specially crafted MXIT data sent via the server could potentially result in a null pointer dereference. A malicious server or an attacker who intercepts the network traffic can send invalid data to trigger this vulnerability and cause a crash.

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 5.9, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network but requires specific conditions to be met without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 3 products from pidgin, from canonical, from debian organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2017, 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

2017-01-06T21:59:00.523

Last Modified

2025-04-20T01:37:25.860

Status

Deferred

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 5.9 (MEDIUM)

CVSSv2 Vector

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

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: MEDIUM
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: NONE
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

8.6

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-476

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	pidgin	pidgin	≤ 2.10.12	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
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes

References

http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3620 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.pidgin.im/news/security/?id=98 Patch, Vendor Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91335 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.talosintelligence.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0133/ Technical Description, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3031-1 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-38 ([email protected])
http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3620 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.pidgin.im/news/security/?id=98 Patch, Vendor Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91335 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.talosintelligence.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0133/ Technical Description, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3031-1 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-38 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

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 pidgin'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.