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NVD / CVE Program· CNA certcc

CVE-2016-2373: A denial of service vulnerability exists in the handling of the MXIT protocol in Pidgin.

MediumCVSS 5.9 · v3.0—No exploit Fix available

Noroxi assessment

Priority: Monitor (action score 24/100)

  • The sources we track (CISA KEV, Exploit-DB, Metasploit, Nuclei, GitHub) show no public exploit code or exploitation in the wild.
  • Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days: 2.2% (FIRST EPSS); higher than 83.4% of all records.
  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it. No account or password is required. No user action is required. Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.
  • Fixed version: pidgin (Debian:12) 2.11.0-1; pidgin (Debian:7) 2.10.10-1~deb7u2; pidgin (Debian:8) 2.11.0-0+deb8u1.

Low priority for now. Upgrade to pidgin (Debian:12) 2.11.0-1; pidgin (Debian:7) 2.10.10-1~deb7u2; pidgin (Debian:8) 2.11.0-0+deb8u1 or later.

Generated automatically from the record's data: CVSS (NVD and CNA), CISA KEV and SSVC, FIRST EPSS, exploit sources, fixed versions. How we calculate it

Primary sources: NVD · CVE.org · FIRST EPSS

A denial of service vulnerability exists in the handling of the MXIT protocol in Pidgin. Specially crafted MXIT data sent via the server could potentially result in an out-of-bounds read. A malicious server or user can send an invalid mood to trigger this vulnerability.

Published
Jan 6, 2017
Updated
Jun 16, 2026
EPSS
2.2% · 83th percentile

Report tools

JSON

Action score

24

Monitor

Low priority for now.

CVSS
23 / 40 · 5.9 / 10
CISA KEV
0 / 30 · Not listed
EPSS
1 / 30 · 2.2%

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  • Not in KEV: no record of exploitation in the wild
  • No public exploit code on record
  • A fix has been released

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When you'll hear from us

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  • when exploit code appears or is weaponized
  • when the record is updated (including a fixed version)
  • when EPSS rises 20 points in a week

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Noroxi analysis

What does it mean in your environment?

The assessment above is generated automatically from the record's data; it doesn't know your environment. Our team verifies on your systems whether this vulnerability is actually exploitable and which mitigation is enough.

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Affected systems

Is your version affected?

Pick the product and type the version you run. It's compared with this record's version ranges in your browser; the version isn't sent anywhere.

VendorProduct
pidginpidgin
canonicalubuntu linux
debiandebian linux

Versions reported by the vendor

Affected version ranges reported by the assigning authority (certcc). Independent of NVD's CPE analysis and usually ahead of it.

  • Pidgin Pidgin

    • 2.10.11affected
Affected versions · NVD (5)

NVD version ranges (for catalog products). Add the product to your stack with a version and matching uses these.

  • canonical ubuntu linux12.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux14.04
  • canonical ubuntu linux15.10
  • debian debian linux8.0
  • pidgin pidginup to 2.10.12 inclusive

Package-level exposure

OSV and GitHub Advisory data: ecosystem, package and range. SBOM matching uses this table.

EcosystemPackageAffected rangeFix
Debian:12pidginbefore 2.11.0-12.11.0-1
Debian:7pidginbefore 2.10.10-1~deb7u22.10.10-1~deb7u2
Debian:8pidginbefore 2.11.0-0+deb8u12.11.0-0+deb8u1
SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 11 SP4pidginbefore 2.6.6-0.29.12.6.6-0.29.1

Same product

pidgin: all records

Other highest-scoring records for the same primary product.

  • CVE-2009-2694The msn_slplink_process_msg function in libpurple/protocols/msn/slplink.c in libpurple, as used in Pidgin (formerly Gaim) before 2.5.9 and…
    46Plan
  • CVE-2013-6490The SIMPLE protocol functionality in Pidgin before 2.10.8 allows remote attackers to have an unspecified impact via a negative…
    44Plan
  • CVE-2017-2640An out-of-bounds write flaw was found in the way Pidgin before 2.12.0 processed XML content.
    41Plan

Published before and after this one in the same product

  • ← EarlierCVE-2016-2371Jan 6, 2017 · An out-of-bounds write vulnerability exists in the handling of the MXIT protocol in Pidgin.
    33Monitor
  • ← EarlierCVE-2016-2372Jan 6, 2017 · An information leak exists in the handling of the MXIT protocol in Pidgin.
    24Monitor
  • Later →CVE-2016-2374Jan 6, 2017 · An exploitable memory corruption vulnerability exists in the handling of the MXIT protocol in Pidgin.
    33Monitor

Remediation

Which version to upgrade to

Fix versions compiled from the vendor, package registries and Microsoft. Verify the vendor's note before upgrading.

Product / packageFixed versionSource
debian:pidgin2.11.0-1 · Debian:12Package registry (OSV)
suse:pidgin2.6.6-0.29.1 · SUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 11 SP4Package registry (OSV)

Exploit status

No known public exploit

No public exploit has been observed yet. That doesn't mean you're safe, only that the bar is a little higher.

Research context

For pentesters and researchers: attack profile, score disagreement, timeline, patch commits, credits, variant and chain candidates, bug bounty scope. All derived from existing data; no exploit code.

Timeline

From publication to today: proof of concept, Metasploit module, CISA KEV and fix record. Dates are as reported by the sources.

No dated events beyond publication.

Not on record for this CVE: EPSS history · patch commit or PR link · researcher credit · variant or chain candidate · public bounty program.

Technical details

Attack conditions

  • Anyone who can reach it over the internet can trigger it.
  • No account or password is required.
  • No user action is required.
  • Special conditions such as timing or configuration are required.

If successful

Confidentiality
none
Integrity
none
Availability
high · the service can be disrupted
Attack vector
Network
Attack complexity
High
Privileges required
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality impact
None
Integrity impact
None
Availability impact
High

Weakness class (CWE)

CWE-125 · Out-of-bounds Read

CVSS vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

nvd-primary

Attack context

MITRE CAPEC attack patterns and ATT&CK techniques for this weakness class (CWE). A starting point for detection rules and threat hunting.

ATT&CK techniques

—

References

Show all references (5 more)

Vendor advisories and official records. Exploit/PoC links are deliberately left out.

All records