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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-5317 Opensuse CVE debrief

CVE-2016-5317 is a memory-safety flaw in libtiff's PixarLogDecode path. According to the NVD record, libtiff 4.0.6 and earlier are affected, and the practical impact is a denial of service through application crash when a crafted TIFF file is processed. The NVD entry rates the issue CVSS 3.0 6.5 (medium) with network reachability, low attack complexity, no privileges required, and user interaction required.

Vendor
Opensuse
Product
CVE-2016-5317
CVSS
MEDIUM 6.5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-01-20
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-01-20
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Teams that ship or consume libtiff, applications that open or thumbnail TIFF images, and Linux distributions that package libtiff-based desktop software should care most. The NVD CPE data also lists openSUSE products, so distro maintainers and desktop administrators should verify whether their packages include vulnerable libtiff builds.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is described as a buffer overflow in the PixarLogDecode function in libtiff.so. The NVD weakness mapping is CWE-119. The CVSS vector provided by NVD is AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, indicating the issue is reachable remotely but requires a user to open a crafted TIFF file; the documented impact is availability loss via crash rather than confirmed code execution.

Defensive priority

Medium. Patch or upgrade promptly anywhere untrusted TIFF files may be handled, but this is best treated as a service-stability issue unless your environment uses libtiff in a high-exposure workflow.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade libtiff to a release newer than 4.0.6 in affected systems.
  • Apply vendor or distribution security updates for packages that bundle or depend on libtiff, including openSUSE-related packages listed in the NVD CPE data.
  • Review image-processing, preview, and thumbnailing components that accept TIFF input and ensure they run with current library versions.
  • Reduce exposure to untrusted TIFF files in email, document, and file-sharing workflows until patched.
  • Monitor crash reports or abnormal terminations in applications that parse TIFF content as a sign of possible exposure.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based on the NVD CVE record and the linked references in the supplied corpus. The record states the affected function, affected version scope, CVSS vector, and CWE-119. Supporting references include the official CVE record, the NVD detail page, the NVD API source item, and third-party advisory links from openSUSE, Debian, Gentoo, Openwall, and SecurityFocus. No exploit code or reproduction details are included.

Official resources

The CVE record was published by NVD on 2017-01-20. The supplied references show related advisories from 2016 and 2017, but this debrief treats 2017-01-20 as the CVE publication date and does not use the later source-modification timestamp.