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CVE-2016-6254: Collectd: Buffer overflow

CVE-2016-6254 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.1 and affects Collectd, along with 2 other products in NVD’s configuration data. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction.

Vulnerability description

Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_packet function in network.c in collectd before 5.4.3 and 5.x before 5.5.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (daemon crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted network packet.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.1: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:H

Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
Confidentiality impact: None. No loss of confidentiality.
Integrity impact: High. Total loss of integrity; data or system state can be fully modified.
Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

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

The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it reads from or writes to a memory location outside the buffer's intended boundary.

Affected products

Collectd: from 5.4.0 before 5.4.3; from 5.5.0 before 5.5.2
Debian Linux: 8.0
Fedoraproject: 23; 24