CVE-2015-8983: Integer overflow in the _IO_wstr_overflow function in libio/wstrops.c in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or li...

Security readout for executives and security teams

CVE-2015-8983 is an old GNU C Library issue where certain wide-character stream handling could miscalculate memory size. On affected glibc/libc6 versions before 2.22, this may crash an application and, depending on the application context, could possibly allow code execution. Exposure is most likely on legacy Linux systems, containers, appliances, or embedded environments still using glibc/libc6 before 2.22. Risk depends on whether applications expose reachable wide-character stream processing paths to attacker-controlled input. Treat this as a legacy platform risk rather than a broad emergency unless old glibc versions are present on exposed systems. The main business concern is unsupported Linux infrastructure running critical services without reliable library security updates. Mitigation focus: Identify systems using glibc or libc6 before version 2.22.; Apply vendor-supported glibc/libc6 updates that include the upstream fix.; Prioritize internet-facing and input-processing applications on legacy Linux hosts..

Prepared

Jun 13, 2026, 06:02 UTC (UTC+00:00)

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.