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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-2217 Dest Unreach CVE debrief

CVE-2016-2217 is a weak-cryptography issue in Socat’s OpenSSL address implementation. According to the CVE description, affected Socat versions 1.7.3.0 and 2.0.0-b8 do not use a prime number for the Diffie-Hellman parameter, which can make it easier for a remote attacker to obtain the shared secret. The NVD assigns CWE-320 and a medium CVSS 3.0 score of 5.3.

Vendor
Dest Unreach
Product
Socat
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.3
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-01-30
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-01-30
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Organizations running Socat with OpenSSL-enabled address features, especially on the affected versions listed in the NVD record. This is most relevant for systems that rely on Socat to protect network traffic with Diffie-Hellman key exchange.

Technical summary

The issue is a Diffie-Hellman parameter weakness in Socat’s OpenSSL address implementation. NVD maps it to CWE-320 and lists the impact as network-reachable, no privileges required, no user interaction, with limited confidentiality impact (CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N). The vulnerable CPEs in the NVD record are Socat 1.7.3.0 and 2.0.0-b8.

Defensive priority

Medium. Prioritize this if Socat is exposed in production or used for encrypted connections, because the weakness affects key exchange confidentiality rather than availability or integrity.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Inventory deployments running Socat and confirm whether versions 1.7.3.0 or 2.0.0-b8 are in use.
  • Apply the vendor fix or upgrade to a Socat release covered by the vendor advisory and downstream security guidance.
  • Review any services that depend on Socat for OpenSSL-based transport protection and verify that key exchange is configured securely.
  • If remediation must be deferred, reduce exposure of affected services and monitor for unexpected use of the vulnerable encrypted pathways.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based on the supplied CVE record, the NVD detail and modified feed entry, the Dest Unreach vendor advisory reference, two oss-security mailing list references, and the Gentoo GLSA reference. The only security-impact details used here are those present in the supplied corpus: weak Diffie-Hellman parameter usage, affected Socat versions, CWE-320, and the NVD CVSS vector and score.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2016-2217 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-2217

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2016-2217 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-2217

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.