CVE-2016-20038
Published: 28 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2016-20038 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Han (inferred from references). Its CVSS base score is 8.6 (High).
Operationally, exploitation aligns with the MITRE ATT&CK technique Exploitation for Client Execution (T1203); ranked at the 7.4th percentile by exploit likelihood (below the median); it is not currently listed in the CISA KEV catalog; a public proof-of-concept is referenced.
The strongest mitigations our analysis identified are NIST 800-53 SI-10 (Information Input Validation) and SI-16 (Memory Protection).
Deeper analysis
CVE-2016-20038 is a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-787) affecting yTree version 1.94-1.1. The flaw occurs when the application processes an excessively long command-line argument, allowing attackers to overwrite the stack with shellcode and a return address, thereby enabling arbitrary code execution in the application's context. This issue was published on 2026-03-28 and carries a CVSS v3.1 base score of 8.4 (AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H).
Local attackers with access to the system can exploit this vulnerability without requiring privileges (PR:N), user interaction (UI:N), or high complexity (AC:L). By crafting a malicious command-line argument, they can achieve arbitrary code execution within the yTree process, potentially leading to high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
References include the official yTree website at http://www.han.de/~werner/ytree.html, an Exploit-DB entry (https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/39406) providing a proof-of-concept exploit, and a VulnCheck advisory (https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/ytree-stack-based-buffer-overflow) detailing the stack-based buffer overflow. Specific mitigation or patch details are not outlined in the provided information.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2016-10831
Vulnerability details
yTree 1.94-1.1 contains a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability that allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code by supplying an excessively long argument to the application. Attackers can craft a malicious command-line argument containing shellcode and a return address to overwrite…
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the stack and execute code in the application context.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Stack-based buffer overflow in local CLI app directly enables arbitrary code execution via crafted input (classic client-side exploitation vector).
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Directly mandates identifying, reporting, and correcting the stack-based buffer overflow flaw in yTree to eliminate the vulnerability.
Implements memory safeguards like ASLR, stack canaries, and non-executable stacks to block arbitrary code execution from stack overflows.
Requires validating command-line arguments at entry points to reject excessively long inputs that trigger the buffer overflow.