Credentials management flaw in curl
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Attack complexity
- High
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- None · High · None
- Fix status
- Partial Red Hat: 8 fixed, 8 without a fix
Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
A flaw was found in curl before version 7.51.0 When re-using a connection, curl was doing case insensitive comparisons of user name and password with the existing connections. This means that if an unused connection with proper credentials exists for a protocol that has connection-scoped credentials, an attacker can cause that connection to be reused if s/he knows the case-insensitive version of the correct password.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Curl Project | curl | 7.51.0 | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- curl VendorThe Curl Project Affected 7.51.0 Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
Red Hat 2 advisories
- RHSA-2018:3558 Released 2018-11-13 · Red Hat rating Moderatehttpd24 security, bug fix, and enhancement update
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el6, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el6, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el6 +11
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el7, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el7, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el7 +12
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.4) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el7, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el7, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el7 +12
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.5) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el7, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el7, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el7 +12
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el7, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el7, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el7 +12
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el6, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el6, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el6 +11
- Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) httpd24-curl-7.61.1-1.el7, httpd24-httpd-2.4.34-7.el7, httpd24-httpd-devel-2.4.34-7.el7 +12
- RHSA-2018:2486 Released 2018-08-16 · Red Hat rating ImportantRed Hat JBoss Core Services Apache HTTP Server 2.4.29 security update
- Red Hat JBoss Core Services
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Low. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| .NET Core 1.0 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| .NET Core 1.1 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| .NET Core 2.0 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux | Affected | No fix planned: Out of support scope |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization 3 | Affected | No fix planned: Will not fix |
| Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Web Server 3 | Affected | No fix yet: Fix deferred |
| Red Hat JBoss Core Services | Fixed | RHSA-2018:2486 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 6) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.4) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.5) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 6) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
| Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) | Fixed | RHSA-2018:3558 |
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2016-8616
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-22qv-x7vv-h86h
References
Patch 4
More The Curl Project vulnerabilities
- TI-2019-02834 Stack-based buffer overflow in curl CVSS 3.1CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2016-07082 Buffer overflow in curl CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2018-12049 Heap-based buffer overflow in curl: CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2016-07084 Heap-based buffer overflow in curl CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2016-07081 The function `read_data()` in security.c in curl before version 7.51.0 is vulnerable to memory double free. CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2016-07080 Use after free in curl CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
Sources
- CVE-2016-8616 · CVE Program
- CVE-2016-8616 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-22qv-x7vv-h86h · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2016-8616 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
This product uses the NVD API but is not endorsed or certified by the NVD. Sources and licences