CVE-2016-7937 Tcpdump CVE debrief

Who should care

Administrators, security teams, and developers who deploy or embed tcpdump 4.8.1 or earlier should care most. Systems that process untrusted packet captures or traffic with tcpdump tooling are the primary concern, especially where tcpdump is used operationally or in automated analysis pipelines.

Technical summary

NVD records the weakness as CWE-119 and identifies a buffer overflow in the VAT parser code path (print-udp.c:vat_print()). The affected version range is tcpdump up to and including 4.8.1, with the issue corrected in 4.9.0 or later per the CVE description. NVD’s CVSS vector is AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H, indicating a high-severity flaw with no privileges or user interaction required.

Defensive priority

High. This is a remotely reachable, low-complexity memory corruption issue with critical CVSS severity and full confidentiality, integrity, and availability impact in the published vector.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade tcpdump to 4.9.0 or later, or to a vendor-supported fixed package version.
• Inventory hosts, containers, and appliances that include tcpdump 4.8.1 or earlier.
• Prioritize patching systems that regularly analyze untrusted captures or network data.
• Use vendor advisories to confirm fixed package versions for your distribution (for example Debian, Red Hat, or Gentoo).
• If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict access to tcpdump usage and reduce exposure to untrusted packet inputs.

Evidence notes

All core claims are supported by the supplied NVD record and references. The CVE description states the flaw is a buffer overflow in print-udp.c:vat_print() in tcpdump before 4.9.0. NVD lists affected versions through 4.8.1, CWE-119, and a CVSS 3.0 vector of AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H. The supplied references show downstream vendor and distro advisories from Debian, Red Hat, and Gentoo.

Official resources