What is CVE-2016-4472?

CVE-2016-4472 is a high-severity vulnerability in Libexpat Project, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2016-06-30.

How severe is CVE-2016-4472?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.

Is CVE-2016-4472 known to be exploited?

2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.

Buffer overflow in Libexpat Project

CVE-2016-4472

The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-06-30 · last modified 2026-10-08.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 8.1 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.119 (96.1th percentile), scored 2026-10-18.

Moderate probability of exploitation in the next 30 days — watch for active exploitation reports. 96th percentile — 96.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.119 · newest: 0.119 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Weakness classification (CWE)

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

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20 (Third Party Advisory)
bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index (Third Party Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-4472?: CVE-2016-4472 is a high-severity vulnerability in Libexpat Project, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 8.1/10. Published 2016-06-30.
How severe is CVE-2016-4472?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 8.1 out of 10.
Is CVE-2016-4472 known to be exploited?: 2 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.