What is CVE-2017-16231?

CVE-2017-16231 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pcre, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2019-03-21.

How severe is CVE-2017-16231?

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

Is CVE-2017-16231 known to be exploited?

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

Buffer overflow in Pcre

CVE-2017-16231

In PCRE 8.41, after compiling, a pcretest load test PoC produces a crash overflow in the function match() in pcre_exec.c because of a self-recursive call. NOTE: third parties dispute the relevance of this report, noting that there are options that can be used to limit the amount of stack that is used

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2019-03-21 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.005 (43.5th percentile), scored 2026-09-30.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 43rd percentile — 43.5% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.005 · newest: 0.005 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Pcre — versions 8.41

Weakness classification (CWE)

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

Public proof-of-concept exploits

References

packetstormsecurity.com/files/150897/PCRE-8.41-Buffer-Overflow.html (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Dec/33 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/01/11 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/01/3 (Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/01/7 (Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/11/01/8 (Exploit, Mailing List, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/101688 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory)
bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi (Third Party Advisory, Issue Tracking)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-16231?: CVE-2017-16231 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Pcre, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2019-03-21.
How severe is CVE-2017-16231?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.
Is CVE-2017-16231 known to be exploited?: 8 public proof-of-concept repositories are indexed. Not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog.