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Ubuntu 16.04 LTS : BitlBee vulnerabilities (USN-8977-1)

critical Nessus Plugin ID 375874

Synopsis

The remote Ubuntu host is missing one or more security updates.

Description

The remote Ubuntu 16.04 LTS host has packages installed that are affected by multiple vulnerabilities as referenced in the USN-8977-1 advisory.

 It was discovered that BitlBee incorrectly handled file transfer connections that expired when built with libpurple. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause BitlBee to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2016-10188)

 It was discovered that BitlBee incorrectly handled file transfer requests for contacts that were not in the contact list. A remote attacker could possibly use this issue to cause BitlBee to crash, resulting in a denial of service, or possibly execute arbitrary code. (CVE-2016-10189)

Tenable has extracted the preceding description block directly from the Ubuntu security advisory.

Note that Nessus has not tested for these issues but has instead relied only on the application's self-reported version number.

Solution

Update the affected packages.

See Also

https://ubuntu.com/security/notices/USN-8977-1

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 375874

File Name: ubuntu_USN-8977-1.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: Local

Agent: unix

Published: 11/4/2026

Updated: 11/4/2026

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Continuous Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Tenable Cloud Security, Tenable Self-Hosted Container Security, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.9

Percentile: 57.15

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 5.5

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2016-10188

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 8.5

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:bitlbee-common, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:bitlbee-libpurple, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:bitlbee-plugin-otr, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:bitlbee

Required KB Items: Host/cpu, Host/Ubuntu, Host/Ubuntu/release, Host/Debian/dpkg-l

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Patch Publication Date: 11/3/2026

Vulnerability Publication Date: 1/30/2017

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2016-10188, CVE-2016-10189

USN: 8977-1