The apt package in Debian jessie before 1.0.9.8.4, in Debian unstable before 1.4~beta2, in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS before 1.0.1ubuntu2.17, in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS before 1.2.15ubuntu0.2, and in Ubuntu 16.10 before 1.3.2ubuntu0.1 allows man-in-the-middle attackers to bypass a repository-signing protection mechanism by leveraging improper error handling when validating InRelease file signatures.
CVE-2016-1252
Score 5.9 from GitHub Security Advisory published 2022-05-13. NVD baseline CVSS 5.9; sources differ by 0.0.
- Lower severity and no public exploit yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 5.9
- EG Score
- 5.9(medium)
- EPSS
- 93.6%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
December 5, 2017
Last Modified
May 13, 2026
References (12)
- security@debianhttp://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140145/apt-Repository-Signing-Bypass.html
- security@debianhttp://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3156-1
- security@debianhttps://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1020
- security@debianhttps://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1647467
- security@debianhttps://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3733
- security@debianhttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40916/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/140145/apt-Repository-Signing-Bypass.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-3156-1
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://bugs.chromium.org/p/project-zero/issues/detail?id=1020
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/apt/+bug/1647467
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.debian.org/security/2016/dsa-3733
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40916/
Patch Availability(1)
| Vendor / Ecosystem | Fixed in / Patch | Released | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| ubuntu | libapt-pkg5.0 (1.2.15ubuntu0.2) @ xenial | 2026-05-22 | ubuntu |
Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.
All Vendor Advisories
(1)
Every vendor that published an advisory referencing this CVE — pulled from our cve_vendor_advisories aggregation. Click any row for the vendor's original advisory page.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 9× in last 7d / 40× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. Most recent first.
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 21:05 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-10 13:18 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-08 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-05 11:57 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-24 16:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-22 21:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-22 07:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-05-22 07:31 UTCVendor advisory
- 2026-05-22 07:31 UTCGHSA enrichment
- 2026-05-21 22:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-20 22:37 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-20 11:21 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-05-20 11:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-05-18 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
Publicly available exploits
(1 reference)Working exploit code is in the public domain (1 Exploit-DB entry). Defenders should treat patch urgency accordingly — public PoCs typically lead to mass-exploitation within 24-72 hours.
- Exploit-DBEDB-40916✓ verifiedFirst seen Dec 14, 2016
APT - Repository Signing Bypass via Memory Allocation Failure
Open source ↗
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2016-1252?
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What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-1252?
How do I remediate CVE-2016-1252?
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