Critical
Security advisory
The compile_branch function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE 8.x before 8.39 and pcre2_compile.c in PCRE2 before 10.22 mishandles patterns containing an (*ACCEPT) substring in conjunction with nested parentheses, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (stack-based buffer overflow) via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror, aka ZDI-CAN-3542.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2016-3191
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 07:52 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
The compile_branch function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE 8.x before 8.39 and pcre2_compile.c in PCRE2 before 10.22 mishandles patterns containing an (*ACCEPT) substring in conjunction with nested parentheses, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (stack-based buffer overflow) via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror, aka ZDI-CAN-3542.
osv:CVE-2016-3191
Complete source record
{
"id": "d95b286e7d4e5ffb065fbfee37554ff582d47b32e4f85dc6d727c19340503383",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2016-3191",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "CVE-2016-3191",
"summary": "The compile_branch function in pcre_compile.c in PCRE 8.x before 8.39 and pcre2_compile.c in PCRE2 before 10.22 mishandles patterns containing an (*ACCEPT) substring in conjunction with nested parentheses, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (stack-based buffer overflow) via a crafted regular expression, as demonstrated by a JavaScript RegExp object encountered by Konqueror, aka ZDI-CAN-3542.",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2016-3191",
"products": [],
"severity": "critical",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2016-3191",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2016-3191"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"repo": "https://github.com/pcre2project/pcre2",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "f88cd81935602b0bce1525735f34e505f0564375"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"last_affected": "10.21"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"pcre2-10.21"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2016-3191.json"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-24T10:30:59.546873555Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://bugs.debian.org/815920",
"https://bugs.debian.org/815921",
"https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-18",
"https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016:1132",
"https://bto.bluecoat.com/security-advisory/sa128",
"https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1311503",
"https://bugs.exim.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1791"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"unresolved_ranges": [
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.00:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.01:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.02:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.11:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.12:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.13:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.20:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.21:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.32:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.33:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.34:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.35:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.36:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.38:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "pcre:pcre",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "8.00"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.00"
},
{
"introduced": "8.01"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.01"
},
{
"introduced": "8.02"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.02"
},
{
"introduced": "8.10"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.10"
},
{
"introduced": "8.11"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.11"
},
{
"introduced": "8.12"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.12"
},
{
"introduced": "8.13"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.13"
},
{
"introduced": "8.20"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.20"
},
{
"introduced": "8.21"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.21"
},
{
"introduced": "8.30"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.30"
},
{
"introduced": "8.31"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.31"
},
{
"introduced": "8.32"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.32"
},
{
"introduced": "8.33"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.33"
},
{
"introduced": "8.34"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.34"
},
{
"introduced": "8.35"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.35"
},
{
"introduced": "8.36"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.36"
},
{
"introduced": "8.37"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.37"
},
{
"introduced": "8.38"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.38"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2016-3191",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 439340,
"published_at": "2016-03-17T23:59:01.447+00:00"
}