LibUtils in Android 4.x before 4.4.4, 5.0.x before 5.0.2, 5.1.x before 5.1.1, 6.x before 2016-09-01, and 7.0 before 2016-09-01 mishandles conversions between Unicode character encodings with different encoding widths, which allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow) via a crafted file, aka internal bug 29250543.
CVE-2016-3861
Score 7.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: HIGH) published 2022-05-17. NVD baseline CVSS 7.8; sources differ by 0.0.
- Public exploit code is available (Exploit-DB (verified), epss top5pct, public exploit)
No vendor fix yet — apply a workaround or compensating control (WAF / firewall / segmentation) and watch for a patch.
- CVSS v3
- 7.8
- EG Score
- 7.8(medium)
- EG Risk
- 66(Track)EG Risk 66/100SSVC: Track
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity78% × 45%Exploitation65% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%Action: Routine — remediate on your standard cadence. - EPSS PROB
- 10%
- EPSS %ILE
- 95%
- KEV
- Not listed
Published
September 11, 2016
Last Modified
June 17, 2026
References (16)
- security@androidhttp://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2016-09-01.html
- security@androidhttp://www.securityfocus.com/bid/92811
- security@androidhttp://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036763
- security@androidhttps://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/av/+/3944c65637dfed14a5a895685edfa4bacaf9f76e
- security@androidhttps://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/866dc26ad4a98cc835d075b627326e7d7e52ffa1
- security@androidhttps://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/native/+/1f4b49e64adf4623eefda503bca61e253597b9bf
- security@androidhttps://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core/+/ecf5fd58a8f50362ce9e8d4245a33d56f29f142b
- security@androidhttps://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/40354/
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://source.android.com/security/bulletin/2016-09-01.html
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/92811
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1036763
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/av/+/3944c65637dfed14a5a895685edfa4bacaf9f76e
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/base/+/866dc26ad4a98cc835d075b627326e7d7e52ffa1
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://android.googlesource.com/platform/frameworks/native/+/1f4b49e64adf4623eefda503bca61e253597b9bf
- af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108https://android.googlesource.com/platform/system/core/+/ecf5fd58a8f50362ce9e8d4245a33d56f29f142b
Affected Packages
(1 across 1 ecosystem)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fixed in | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| android-platform-system-core | — | 1:7.0.0+r1-4 | — |
Weakness Classification(2)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 19× 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.
Showing the most recent 100 of 136 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-09-19 15:35 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-18 21:36 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-17 19:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 16:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-10 09:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-07 15:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 03:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-30 23:59 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-30 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 14:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-23 00:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-17 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-16 02:09 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:25 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-14 09:59 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-11 13:36 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 15:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 10:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-02 02:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-01 04:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 16:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-29 20:07 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-28 15:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-26 14:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-25 14:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:14 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:22 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:02 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 07:38 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-23 13:29 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-21 14:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-18 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-17 17:50 UTCEPSS rescore
- 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
- 2026-06-13 22:57 UTCEPSS rescore
- 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
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-40354✓ verifiedFirst seen Sep 8, 2016
Google Android - libutils UTF16 to UTF8 Conversion Heap Buffer Overflow
Open source ↗
Related CVEs(same CWE)
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-119 · CWE-264
- CVE-2002-2227EG 10.0HIGH
- CVE-2002-2248EG 10.0EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2002-2250EG 10.0EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2002-2251EG 10.0EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2002-2253EG 10.0EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2002-2257EG 10.0EPSS p92HIGH
- CVE-2002-2368EG 10.0EPSS p94HIGH
- CVE-2002-1357EG 10.0EPSS p95HIGH
- CVE-2002-0012EG 10.0EPSS p98HIGH
- CVE-2002-0013EG 10.0EPSS p99HIGH
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2016-3861?
When was CVE-2016-3861 disclosed?
Is CVE-2016-3861 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-3861?
How do I remediate CVE-2016-3861?
Dependency Blast Radius
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