CVE-2016-20042
Published: 28 March 2026
Summary
CVE-2016-20042 is a high-severity Out-of-bounds Write (CWE-787) vulnerability in Sourceforge (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 4.1th 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-2016-20042 is a stack buffer overflow vulnerability (CWE-787) in TRN version 3.6-23, a newsreader application. The flaw occurs when the application processes an oversized command-line argument, enabling attackers to overwrite the stack and potentially execute arbitrary code. Published on 2026-03-28 with 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), it highlights low complexity local access with high impacts on confidentiality, integrity, and availability.
Local attackers require only access to the system without privileges (PR:N) and no user interaction (UI:N) to exploit the vulnerability. By supplying a crafted command-line argument—specifically 156 bytes of padding followed by a return address—they can overwrite the instruction pointer, redirect execution, and run shellcode with the privileges of the user invoking the application.
Advisories, including the VulnCheck advisory on the TRN 3.6-23 stack buffer overflow, describe the issue and local code execution potential. An exploit is publicly available on Exploit-DB (ID 39764), and the TRN project page is hosted on SourceForge. No patches or specific mitigations are detailed in the provided references.
EU & UK References
- 🇪🇺 ENISA EUVD: EUVD-2016-10839
Vulnerability details
TRN 3.6-23 contains a stack buffer overflow vulnerability that allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code by supplying an oversized argument to the application. Attackers can craft a malicious command-line argument with 156 bytes of padding followed by a return…
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address to overwrite the instruction pointer and execute shellcode with user privileges.
- CWE(s)
Related Threats
MITRE ATT&CK Enterprise TechniquesAI
Why these techniques?
Stack buffer overflow in local client app (TRN) enables arbitrary code execution via crafted CLI argument, directly mapping to client-side exploitation for code execution.
CVEs Like This One
Affected Assets
Mitigating Controls
Mitigating Controls (NIST 800-53 r5) AI
Requires validation of command-line arguments to detect and reject oversized inputs that trigger the stack buffer overflow.
Implements memory protections such as stack canaries, ASLR, and DEP to prevent exploitation of the buffer overflow for arbitrary code execution.
Mandates timely remediation of known flaws like this stack buffer overflow through patching or replacement of the vulnerable TRN application.