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CVE-2016-1978

19
FAUCET Score

CVE-2016-1978 is a use-after-free vulnerability in the ssl3_HandleECDHServerKeyExchange function of Mozilla Network Security Services (NSS) versions prior to 3.21, impacting products like Mozilla Firefox before version 44.0. This flaw allows remote attackers to trigger a denial of service or potentially other unspecified impacts during an SSL DHE or ECDHE handshake under high memory consumption. Rated as HIGH severity with a CVSS score of 7.3, it can be exploited remotely with low attack complexity, potentially leading to low confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. There is no evidence of active exploitation, public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage surrounding this vulnerability.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
<= 43.0.4CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:firefox:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
<= 3.20.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:mozilla:network_security_services:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

7.3HIGH

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

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
LOW
Integrity Impact
LOW
Availability Impact
LOW
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
3.4
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
2.39%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
82.2%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-26
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0239 is in the 68th percentile among its peer group of 51,485 CVEs.

Social Chatter

No social media mentions found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (10)

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: nss-util-0:3.21.0-2.2.el7_2
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: nspr-0:4.11.0-1.el5_11
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: nss-0:3.21.0-6.el5_11
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: nspr-0:4.11.0-0.1.el6_7
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: nss-0:3.21.0-0.3.el6_7
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: nss-util-0:3.21.0-0.3.el6_7
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: nspr-0:4.11.0-1.el7_2
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: nss-0:3.21.0-9.el7_2
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: nss-softokn-0:3.16.2.3-14.2.el7_2
View patch
mozillavendor investigatingvia nvd_reference
View patch

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2016-1978Moderate

nss: Use-after-free in NSS during SSL connections in low memory (MFSA 2016-15)

Mar 8, 2016

References

lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00027.html
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00050.html
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00068.html
lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2016-03/msg00093.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2016-0591.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2016-0684.html
rhn.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2016-0685.html
bto.bluecoat.com / security-advisory/sa124
bugzilla.mozilla.org / show_bug.cgi
developer.mozilla.org / en-US/docs/Mozilla/Projects/NSS/NSS_3.21_release_notes
security.gentoo.org / glsa/201605-06
debian.org / security/2016/dsa-3688
mozilla.org / security/announce/2016/mfsa2016-15.html
Vendor Advisory
oracle.com / technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2016-2881720.html
oracle.com / technetwork/topics/security/linuxbulletinapr2016-2952096.html
oracle.com / technetwork/topics/security/ovmbulletinjul2016-3090546.html
securityfocus.com / bid/84275
securityfocus.com / bid/91787
securitytracker.com / id/1035258
ubuntu.com / usn/USN-2973-1