CVE-2016-5180

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 9%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

A fix is available — apply it.

Heap-based buffer overflow in the ares_create_query function in c-ares 1.x before 1.12.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with an escaped trailing dot.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EG Risk
52(Track)
EG Risk 52/100SSVC: Track

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).

How it’s computed
Severity98% × 45%
Exploitation9% × 40%
Automatability30% × 15%
Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence.
EPSS
94.5%
KEV
Not listed

Published

October 3, 2016

Last Modified

May 6, 2026

Advisory Details (8)

Auto-updated May 8, 2026
🔬 Proof of concept available. No patch confirmed yet.
generic

Android Security Bulletin—January 2017  |  Android Open Source Project

https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2017-01-01.html
generic

c-ares: Heap-based buffer overflow (GLSA 201701-28) — Gentoo security

https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-28
generic🟡 PoC Available

ares_create_query single byte out of buffer write | c-ares: a modern asynchronous DNS resolver

https://c-ares.haxx.se/adv_20160929.html
generic

[SECURITY] [DSA 3682-1] c-ares security update

http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3682

Vendor Advisories for CVE-2016-5180(1)

These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.

Patch Availability(2)

Vendor / EcosystemFixed in / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntulibc-ares2 (1.11.0-1ubuntu0.1) @ yakkety2026-05-20ubuntu
redhatrh-nodejs4-nodejs-0:4.6.2-4.el72017-01-02redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Additional Vendor Advisories

(1)

Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 13× in last 7d / 43× in last 30d)

Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 114 total refreshes for this CVE.

  1. 2026-07-23 01:23 UTCEG score recompute
  2. 2026-07-22 22:02 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
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  24. 2026-07-08 05:05 UTCOSV refresh
  25. 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
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  1. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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  22. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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  24. 2026-06-19 16:55 UTCOSV refresh
  25. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
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  49. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
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  51. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  52. 2026-05-30 22:53 UTCOSV refresh
  53. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
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  69. 2026-05-20 09:02 UTCVendor advisory
  70. 2026-05-20 09:02 UTCGHSA enrichment
  71. 2026-05-20 04:58 UTCVendor advisory
  72. 2026-05-20 04:58 UTCGHSA enrichment
  73. 2026-05-20 00:54 UTCVendor advisory
  74. 2026-05-20 00:54 UTCGHSA enrichment
  75. 2026-05-19 20:56 UTCVendor advisory

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2016-5180?
CVE-2016-5180 is a critical vulnerability published on October 3, 2016. Heap-based buffer overflow in the arescreatequery function in c-ares 1.x before 1.12.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a hostname with an escaped trailing dot.
When was CVE-2016-5180 disclosed?
CVE-2016-5180 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on October 3, 2016, with the most recent update on May 6, 2026. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2016-5180 actively exploited?
CVE-2016-5180 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 94.5% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-5180?
CVE-2016-5180 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2016-5180?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2016-5180, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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