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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2016-7932 Tcpdump CVE debrief

CVE-2016-7932 is a critical tcpdump flaw in the PIM parser that can trigger a buffer overflow in print-pim.c:pimv2_check_checksum(). The NVD record identifies tcpdump versions through 4.8.1 as vulnerable and assigns a CVSS 3.0 score of 9.8, reflecting the potential for severe impact from malformed network traffic processed by tcpdump.

Vendor
Tcpdump
Product
Unknown
CVSS
CRITICAL 9.8
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-01-28
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-01-28
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Security teams, Linux and BSD administrators, incident responders, and anyone running tcpdump on systems that may inspect untrusted packet captures or live network traffic. Package maintainers and distro users should also care because the fix is typically delivered through vendor updates.

Technical summary

The issue is a memory-safety bug in tcpdump’s PIM parser, specifically in print-pim.c:pimv2_check_checksum(). NVD classifies it as CWE-119 and lists the vulnerable CPE range as tcpdump up to 4.8.1. The CVSS vector (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H) indicates that malformed network input can lead to high-severity compromise of confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Defensive priority

High. This is a pre-authentication, network-reachable parser bug in a widely used packet analysis tool, with critical severity and broad impact if exposed to attacker-controlled traffic or packet files.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade tcpdump to 4.9.0 or later, or install the vendor package update that contains the fix.
  • Confirm deployed package versions are not within the vulnerable range identified by NVD (through 4.8.1).
  • Prioritize hosts that analyze untrusted packet captures, process remote traffic, or run tcpdump in automated pipelines.
  • Use distro security advisories and package managers to verify the patched build is installed.
  • If tcpdump is embedded in tooling or scripts, rebuild or redeploy those components against a fixed tcpdump release.

Evidence notes

Source corpus evidence includes the official CVE record and NVD detail page, which identify the issue as a buffer overflow in tcpdump before 4.9.0 in print-pim.c:pimv2_check_checksum(). NVD metadata also provides the CVSS 3.0 vector, CWE-119 classification, and the vulnerable CPE range through 4.8.1. The supplied references point to Debian, Red Hat, Gentoo, SecurityFocus, SecurityTracker, and a Debian mailing list thread; however, the corpus does not include the full text of those advisories, so they are treated as corroborating references only.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2016-7932 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2016-7932

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

  • CVE-2016-7932 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2016-7932

    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.