Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
zsh before 5.3 had a boundary calculation mistake that could create buffers one byte too small for PATH_MAX-sized paths. The source bundle does not state a business impact, CVSS score, or active exploitation. Treat this as a legacy shell package exposure that should be removed through normal patch management.
Executive priority
Handle through routine vulnerability remediation unless local evidence shows old zsh is broadly deployed on sensitive systems. The absence of CVSS and exploitation evidence limits urgency confidence.
Technical view
CVE-2016-10714 is an off-by-one buffer sizing issue in zsh before 5.3 involving buffers intended to hold PATH_MAX characters. The available record does not identify CWE, CVSS, exploitability, or affected distribution package versions. A SourceForge code change and Ubuntu advisory are cited as public references.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely on systems running zsh versions older than 5.3. The bundle cites Ubuntu guidance but does not provide specific Ubuntu package versions or configurations.
Exploitation context
The provided sources do not show CISA KEV listing, active exploitation, public exploit use, or a concrete attack scenario. Impact should not be assumed beyond the stated off-by-one condition.
Researcher notes
The main gap is impact detail. The CVE text only states an off-by-one undersized buffer condition for PATH_MAX support. Validate against upstream commit context and vendor advisories before assigning exploitability or operational impact.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory systems with zsh installed and record exact package versions.
- Upgrade zsh to a vendor-supported fixed release or 5.3 or later.
- Review the Ubuntu advisory for distribution-specific fixed packages.
- Remove unnecessary zsh installations from systems that do not require it.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed zsh versions are not earlier than 5.3.
- Check OS package manager metadata for applied zsh security updates.
- Verify vulnerable legacy images are not used in deployments.
- Document exceptions where vendor guidance is unavailable or unsupported.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2016-10714 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- USN-3593-1CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_UBUNTU
- https://sourceforge.net/p/zsh/code/ci/a62e1640bcafbb82d86ea8d8ce057a83c4683d60CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.