CVE-2016-2338

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8—
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-09-30. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: epss, ghsa, nvd
9.8
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixSerious severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet.
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS: 5%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: NoneExposed: 0

No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.

An exploitable heap overflow vulnerability exists in the Psych::Emitter start_document function of Ruby. In Psych::Emitter start_document function heap buffer "head" allocation is made based on tags array length. Specially constructed object passed as element of tags array can increase this array size after mentioned allocation and cause heap overflow.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8(medium)
EPSS
90.6%
KEV
Not listed

Published

September 29, 2022

Last Modified

November 21, 2024

Advisory Details (3)

Auto-updated Jul 10, 2026
Patch available.
generic

NetApp Product Security

https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20221228-0005/
generic Patch Available

[SECURITY] [DLA 2158-1] ruby2.1 security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/03/msg00032.html
generic

TALOS-2016-0032 || Cisco Talos Intelligence Group - Comprehensive Threat Intelligence

http://www.talosintelligence.com/reports/TALOS-2016-0032/

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 8× in last 7d / 38× 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.

  1. 2026-07-11 08:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-07-08 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-28 17:02 UTCOSV refresh
  14. 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  16. 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-21 01:57 UTCEPSS rescore
Show 40 more
  1. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  2. 2026-06-19 19:23 UTCEPSS rescore
  3. 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  4. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  5. 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  6. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  7. 2026-06-16 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
  8. 2026-06-15 17:45 UTCEPSS rescore
  9. 2026-06-14 23:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  10. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  11. 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  12. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  13. 2026-06-12 23:09 UTCEPSS rescore
  14. 2026-06-11 13:57 UTCEPSS rescore
  15. 2026-06-11 08:09 UTCOSV refresh
  16. 2026-06-10 22:15 UTCEPSS rescore
  17. 2026-06-10 13:18 UTCEPSS rescore
  18. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  19. 2026-06-07 15:22 UTCEPSS rescore
  20. 2026-06-05 22:44 UTCEPSS rescore
  21. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  22. 2026-06-05 06:08 UTCEPSS rescore
  23. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  24. 2026-06-04 13:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  25. 2026-06-02 20:10 UTCEPSS rescore
  26. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  27. 2026-06-01 13:49 UTCEPSS rescore
  28. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  29. 2026-05-31 22:28 UTCEPSS rescore
  30. 2026-05-31 00:14 UTCEPSS rescore
  31. 2026-05-29 13:41 UTCEPSS rescore
  32. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  33. 2026-05-28 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  34. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  35. 2026-05-27 13:38 UTCEPSS rescore
  36. 2026-05-26 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
  37. 2026-05-26 07:16 UTCEPSS rescore
  38. 2026-05-25 14:32 UTCEG score recompute
  39. 2026-05-25 14:32 UTCGHSA enrichment
  40. 2026-05-24 16:43 UTCEPSS rescore

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Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2016-2338?
CVE-2016-2338 is a critical vulnerability published on September 29, 2022. An exploitable heap overflow vulnerability exists in the Psych::Emitter startdocument function of Ruby. In Psych::Emitter startdocument function heap buffer "head" allocation is made based on tags array length. Specially constructed object passed as element of tags array can increase this array…
When was CVE-2016-2338 disclosed?
CVE-2016-2338 was first published in the National Vulnerability Database on September 29, 2022, with the most recent update on November 21, 2024. EchelonGraph re-ingests CVE updates from NVD on a 2-hour cycle, so this page reflects the latest published state.
Is CVE-2016-2338 actively exploited?
CVE-2016-2338 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 90.6% percentile likelihood of exploitation in the next 30 days — higher percentiles indicate greater predicted risk.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-2338?
CVE-2016-2338 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2016-2338?
Patch to the fixed version published by the affected vendor. Where vendor advisories exist for CVE-2016-2338, EchelonGraph cross-links them in the Vendor Advisories panel below — those typically contain the canonical remediation steps, fixed version numbers, and any vendor-specific mitigations.

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