Is CVE-2016-6656 actively exploited?

No active exploitation of CVE-2016-6656 has been confirmed so far. Continue monitoring, as exploit status can change.

Can CVE-2016-6656 be exploited remotely?

Yes. CVE-2016-6656 is exploitable remotely over the network (CVSS attack vector: Network).

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-6656?

CVE-2016-6656 has a CVSS score of 7.2 (HIGH).

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HIGH

CVE-2016-6656

CWE-77Published: December 16, 2016· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

7.2

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

An issue was discovered in Pivotal Greenplum before 4.3.10.0. Creation of external tables using GPHDFS protocol has a vulnerability whereby arbitrary commands can be injected into the system. In order to exploit this vulnerability the user must have superuser 'gpadmin' access to the system or have been granted GPHDFS protocol permissions in order to create a GPHDFS external table.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2016-6656 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

Exploitation requires high privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 7.2.