Critical
Security advisory
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.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2016-5180
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 05:35 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
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.
osv:CVE-2016-5180
Complete source record
{
"id": "ec27abe16e99e7f0e61af2f2427930920c0602fb1d0ffbd02aaf9f78b132f11a",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-5180",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "CVE-2016-5180",
"summary": "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.",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2016-5180",
"products": [],
"severity": "critical",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2016-5180",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2016-5180"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
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{
"repo": "https://github.com/c-ares/c-ares",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
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},
{
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}
],
"database_specific": {
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{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.1.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.1.0"
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],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
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{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.2.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.2.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.2.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.2.1"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.2.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.3.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.3.1"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.3.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.3.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.3.2"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.3.2"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.4.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.4.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.4.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.5.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.5.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.5.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.5.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.5.1"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.5.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.5.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.5.2"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.5.2"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.5.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.5.3"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.5.3"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.6.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.6.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.7.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.7.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.7.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.7.1"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.7.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.7.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.7.2"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.7.2"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.7.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.7.3"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.7.3"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.7.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.7.4"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.7.4"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.7.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.7.5"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.7.5"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.8.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.8.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.9.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.9.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.9.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.9.1"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.9.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.10.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.10.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:c-ares_project:c-ares:1.11.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.11.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.11.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"1.1.0",
"1.10.0",
"1.11.0",
"1.2.0",
"1.2.1",
"1.3.1",
"1.3.2",
"1.4.0",
"1.5.0",
"1.5.1",
"1.5.2",
"1.5.3",
"1.6.0",
"1.7.0",
"1.7.1",
"1.7.2",
"1.7.3",
"1.7.4",
"1.7.5",
"1.8.0",
"1.9.0",
"1.9.1",
"cares-1_11_0",
"cares-1_11_0-rc1",
"cares-1_10_0",
"cares-1_9_1",
"cares-1_9_0",
"cares-1_8_0",
"cares-1_7_5",
"cares-1_7_4",
"cares-1_7_3",
"cares-1_7_2",
"cares-1_7_1",
"curl-7_20_0",
"cares-1_7_0",
"curl-7_19_7",
"curl-7_19_6",
"curl-7_19_5",
"curl-7_19_4",
"curl-7_19_3",
"cares-1_6_0",
"curl-7_19_2",
"curl-7_19_0",
"cares-1_5_3",
"curl-7_18_2",
"cares-1_5_2",
"curl-7_18_1",
"curl-7_18_0",
"cares-1_5_1",
"cares-1_5_0",
"curl-7_17_1",
"curl-7_17_0",
"curl-7_16_4",
"curl-7_16_3",
"cares-1_4_0",
"curl-7_16_2",
"curl-7_16_1",
"cares-1_3_2",
"curl-7_16_0",
"curl-7_15_6-prepipeline",
"curl-7_15_5",
"cares-1_3_1",
"curl-7_15_4",
"curl-7_15_3",
"curl-7_15_1",
"curl-7_15_0",
"curl-7_14_1",
"curl-7_14_0",
"curl-7_13_2",
"curl-7_13_1",
"curl-7_13_0",
"cares-1_2_1",
"curl-7_12_2",
"curl-7_12_1",
"curl-7_12_0",
"c-ares-1_2_0",
"curl-7_11_1",
"cares-1_1_0"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2016-5180.json"
}
},
{
"ranges": [
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"repo": "https://github.com/nodejs/node",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "163ca274230fce536afe76c64676c332693ad7c1"
},
{
"fixed": "262dd62a9248d7021966a9d00cd6632ea1f087bc"
},
{
"introduced": "2b18916ff054309a07408719b62e2b6a4f1e056a"
},
{
"fixed": "1da5ccffbcaf126d34442b55194cde86c8a583a4"
},
{
"introduced": "f9f837885343a2a3f5ba2b8c510eaac395c8c865"
},
{
"fixed": "f0052e40cdee7371bd209e84554f0bb43357aa14"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0.10.0"
},
{
"fixed": "0.10.48"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0.12.0"
},
{
"fixed": "0.12.17"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
},
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:nodejs:node.js:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "4.0.0"
},
{
"fixed": "4.6.1"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"v4.6.0",
"v4.5.0",
"v4.4.7",
"v4.4.6",
"v4.4.5",
"v4.4.4",
"v4.4.3",
"v4.4.2",
"v4.4.1",
"v4.4.0",
"v4.3.2",
"v4.3.1",
"v4.3.0",
"v4.2.6",
"v4.2.5",
"v4.2.4",
"v4.2.3",
"v4.2.2",
"v4.2.1",
"v4.2.0",
"v4.1.2",
"v4.1.1",
"v4.1.0",
"v4.0.0"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2016-5180.json"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-24T10:30:30.712953911Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://c-ares.haxx.se/CVE-2016-5180.patch",
"https://c-ares.haxx.se/adv_20160929.html",
"https://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2017-01-01.html",
"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-28",
"https://googlechromereleases.blogspot.in/2016/09/stable-channel-updates-for-chrome-os.html"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"unresolved_ranges": [
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.0.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:c-ares:c-ares:1.3.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "c-ares:c-ares",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.0.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.0.0"
},
{
"introduced": "1.3.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "1.3.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "canonical:ubuntu_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "12.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "12.04"
},
{
"introduced": "14.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "14.04"
},
{
"introduced": "16.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "16.04"
},
{
"introduced": "16.10"
},
{
"last_affected": "16.10"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "debian:debian_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "8.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2016-5180",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 432642,
"published_at": "2016-10-03T15:59:03.27+00:00"
}