What is CVE-2016-9888?

CVE-2016-9888 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GNOME Libgsf, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2016-12-08.

How severe is CVE-2016-9888?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

NULL pointer dereference in GNOME Libgsf

CVE-2016-9888

An error within the "tar_directory_for_file()" function (gsf-infile-tar.c) in GNOME Structured File Library before 1.14.41 can be exploited to trigger a Null pointer dereference and subsequently cause a crash via a crafted TAR file.

Published 2016-12-08 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.013 (69.9th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 70th percentile — 69.9% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.013 · newest: 0.013 · change: 0.000

Affected products

GNOME Libgsf

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-476 — NULL Pointer Dereference

References

secunia.com/advisories/71201/ (Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory)
secunia.com/secunia_research/2016-17/ (Permissions Required, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/94860 (vdb-entry)
github.com/GNOME/libgsf/commit/95a8351a75758cf10b3bf6abae0b6b461f90d9e5 (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/04/msg00016.html (mailing-list)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-9888?: CVE-2016-9888 is a medium-severity vulnerability in GNOME Libgsf, classified under NULL Pointer Dereference. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2016-12-08.
How severe is CVE-2016-9888?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.