Is CVE-2016-8661 actively exploited?

No active exploitation of CVE-2016-8661 has been confirmed so far. Continue monitoring, as exploit status can change.

Can CVE-2016-8661 be exploited remotely?

No. CVE-2016-8661 requires local access to exploit.

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2016-8661?

CVE-2016-8661 has a CVSS score of 8.4 (HIGH).

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HIGH

CVE-2016-8661

CWE-119Published: November 15, 2016· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

8.4

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

Little Snitch version 3.0 through 3.6.1 suffer from a buffer overflow vulnerability that could be locally exploited which could lead to an escalation of privileges (EoP) and unauthorised ring0 access to the operating system. The buffer overflow is related to insufficient checking of parameters to the "OSMalloc" and "copyin" kernel API calls.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2016-8661 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.

The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.

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 8.4.

From a weakness classification perspective (CWE-119): Buffer overflow vulnerabilities can lead to arbitrary code execution or denial of service by corrupting adjacent memory.