What is CVE-2016-6525?

CVE-2016-6525 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Artifex Mupdf, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2016-09-22.

How severe is CVE-2016-6525?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Artifex Mupdf

CVE-2016-6525

Heap-based buffer overflow in the pdf_load_mesh_params function in pdf/pdf-shade.c in MuPDF allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execute arbitrary code via a large decode array.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-09-22 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.038 (89.9th percentile), scored 2026-10-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 90th percentile — 89.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.038 · newest: 0.038 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Artifex Mupdf
Debian Linux — versions 8.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

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

References

www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3655 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2016/08/03/8 (mailing-list, Patch)
bugs.ghostscript.com/show_bug.cgi (Patch, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/92266 (Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
git.ghostscript.com/
security.gentoo.org/glsa/201702-12 (vendor-advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-6525?: CVE-2016-6525 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Artifex Mupdf, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2016-09-22.
How severe is CVE-2016-6525?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.