What is CVE-2016-2191?

CVE-2016-2191 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Optipng, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2016-04-13.

How severe is CVE-2016-2191?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Optipng

CVE-2016-2191

The bmp_read_rows function in pngxtern/pngxrbmp.c in OptiPNG before 0.7.6 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (invalid memory write and crash) via a series of delta escapes in a crafted BMP image.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-04-13 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 6.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.035 (88.8th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 89th percentile — 88.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.035 · newest: 0.035 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Optipng — versions 0.7.2
Canonical Ubuntu Linux — versions 12.04, 14.04, 15.04
Debian Linux — versions 7.0, 8.0
openSUSE Leap — versions 42.1
openSUSE — versions 13.2

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

sourceforge.net/p/optipng/bugs/59/ (Patch)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/04/04/2 (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-04/msg00065.html (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3546 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2951-1 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-04/msg00061.html (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/archive/1/537972/100/0/threaded (mailing-list)
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2016/Apr/15 (mailing-list, Third Party Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201608-01 (vendor-advisory)
packetstormsecurity.com/files/136553/Optipng-Invalid-Write.html (Exploit)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-2191?: CVE-2016-2191 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Optipng, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 6.5/10. Published 2016-04-13.
How severe is CVE-2016-2191?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 6.5 out of 10.