CVE-2016-7936 Tcpdump CVE debrief

Who should care

Security and operations teams that run tcpdump on servers, jump hosts, packet-capture appliances, forensic pipelines, or CI/test systems; distribution maintainers and vulnerability management teams responsible for packaged or backported fixes.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a buffer overflow in print-udp.c:udp_print() within tcpdump's UDP parser. The supplied NVD data classifies it as CWE-119 and rates it CVSS v3.0 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H), indicating a remotely reachable, low-complexity memory corruption issue with potentially severe impact. The affected version range in the supplied record extends through tcpdump 4.8.1.

Defensive priority

Immediate

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade tcpdump to 4.9.0 or a vendor package that explicitly backports the fix.
• Verify installed tcpdump versions across endpoints, servers, appliances, and analysis systems; treat 4.8.1 and earlier as affected unless a vendor advisory says otherwise.
• Apply the relevant vendor or distribution advisories referenced in the CVE record, including Debian, Red Hat, and Gentoo packages where applicable.
• Prioritize systems that process untrusted packet captures or traffic for faster remediation.
• Document the remediation status in vulnerability tracking so the issue is not left open after package updates.

Evidence notes

The supplied NVD record states that tcpdump versions through 4.8.1 are vulnerable and maps the issue to CWE-119. The description identifies the flaw as a buffer overflow in print-udp.c:udp_print(), and the CVSS vector is 9.8 (AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H). No Known Exploited Vulnerabilities entry was supplied.

Official resources