What is CVE-2016-9480?

CVE-2016-9480 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Libdwarf Project, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2016-11-29.

How severe is CVE-2016-9480?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in Libdwarf Project

CVE-2016-9480

libdwarf 2016-10-21 allows context-dependent attackers to obtain sensitive information or cause a denial of service by using the "malformed dwarf file" approach, related to a "Heap Buffer Over-read" issue affecting the dwarf_util.c component, aka DW201611-006.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2016-11-29 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.1 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.033 (88.1th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 88th percentile — 88.1% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.033 · newest: 0.033 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Libdwarf Project — versions 2016-10-21

Weakness classification (CWE)

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

References

www.prevanders.net/dwarfbug.html (Third Party Advisory)
sourceforge.net/p/libdwarf/code/ci/5dd64de047cd5ec479fb11fe7ff2692fd819e5e5/ (Patch, Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)
sourceforge.net/p/libdwarf/bugs/5/ (Permissions Required)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/94980 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-9480?: CVE-2016-9480 is a critical-severity vulnerability in Libdwarf Project, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.1/10. Published 2016-11-29.
How severe is CVE-2016-9480?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.1 out of 10.