How severe is CVE-2016-9857?

CVE-2016-9857 has a CVSS score of 6.1/10, rated MEDIUM. Review your exposure and patch according to your risk tolerance.

Which packages are affected by CVE-2016-9857?

CVE-2016-9857 affects the following packages: phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin (Packagist), phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin (Packagist), phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin (Packagist). Ecosystems affected: Packagist.

How do I fix CVE-2016-9857?

Update phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin to 4.6.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-9857 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.

How do I detect CVE-2016-9857 in my Packagist dependencies?

Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.

How do I mitigate CVE-2016-9857 if there is no patch (or I can't update yet)?

Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Is CVE-2016-9857 actively exploited in the wild?

No public exploit code has been indexed for CVE-2016-9857 yet. This does not mean the vulnerability cannot be exploited — absence of public exploits does not imply safety. Apply the recommended fix and use O3 Security to monitor your exposure.

What is the EPSS score for CVE-2016-9857?

CVE-2016-9857 has an EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) score of 1.5%, placing it in the 74th percentile of all CVEs. EPSS is maintained by FIRST.org and estimates the probability that a vulnerability will be exploited in the wild within the next 30 days. This score indicates relatively lower exploitation probability, though the CVSS severity should still guide your patching priority.

What type of vulnerability is CVE-2016-9857?

CVE-2016-9857 is classified as Cross-site Scripting (XSS) (CWE-79). This weakness type describe the underlying flaw category, which helps determine the potential impact and the right class of mitigation. This is a high-impact weakness class that often enables remote code execution or data exposure.

When was CVE-2016-9857 published, and has it been updated?

CVE-2016-9857 was published on December 11, 2016 and was last updated on October 24, 2026. Advisory data evolves as severity scores, affected ranges, and exploit intelligence are revised — always check the latest version of the advisory before acting.

🐘

🐘 Packagist

Not in CISA KEV

MEDIUM severity

CVE-2016-9857 — phpmyadmin

MEDIUM

CVE-2016-9857 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.1) Cross-site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability in phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin. A fix is available for phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin — see the affected versions and patch details below.

phpMyAdmin XSS Vulnerability

Also known asGHSA-hmmx-wxh4-9w8w

Published

Dec 11, 2016

Updated

Oct 24, 2026

Affected

3 pkgs

Patched

3 / 3

Exploits

None indexed

Exploitation data as of Nov 4, 2026 · OSV.dev, NVD, FIRST.org (EPSS)

EPSS Exploitation Probability

via FIRST.org ↗

1.5%probability of exploitation in next 30 days

Lower Risk0.00%

Lower risk than most CVEs74th percentile — riskier than 74% of all scored CVEsHighest risk

Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.

How urgent is this, really

Where this sits among everything scored

Real-World Exposure

3 pkgs affected

🐘phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin🐘phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin🐘phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin

Real-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Packagist packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.

Description

An issue was discovered in phpMyAdmin. XSS is possible because of a weakness in a regular expression used in some JavaScript processing. All 4.6.x versions (prior to 4.6.5), 4.4.x versions (prior to 4.4.15.9), and 4.0.x versions (prior to 4.0.10.18) are affected.

Affected Packages

3 total 3 fixed

Ecosystem	Package	Vulnerable range	Fix
🐘Packagist	`phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin`	≥ 4.6&&< 4.6.5	4.6.5`composer require phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:^4.6.5`
🐘Packagist	`phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin`	≥ 4.4&&< 4.4.15.9	4.4.15.9`composer require phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:^4.4.15.9`
🐘Packagist	`phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin`	≥ 4.0&&< 4.0.10.18	4.0.10.18`composer require phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin:^4.0.10.18`

Affected Products

1 product · 63 configurations

Application

phpmyadminphpmyadmin

63 versions

4.0.04.0.14.0.24.0.34.0.44.0.4.14.0.4.24.0.54.0.64.0.74.0.84.0.9

Detection & mitigation playbook

Open-source dependency

Detect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin to 4.6.5 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2016-9857 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Escape or sanitise the affected output on the server side rather than relying on client-side filtering, and add a Content-Security-Policy that blocks inline script execution so injected markup cannot run even if it reaches the page.

Frequently Asked Questions

O3 Security · Impact-Aware SCA

Is CVE-2016-9857 in your dependencies?

Find it across Packagist, including transitive dependencies.

Scan my dependencies How O3 SCA works

CVSS Score

6.1/10CVSS v3 base

Vector breakdown

Attack Vector

Network

Attack Complexity

Low

Privileges Required

None

User Interaction

Required

Scope

Changed

Confidentiality

Low

Integrity

Low

Availability

None

Raw vector

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:C/C:L/I:L/A:N

CWE Classification

CWE-79Cross-site Scripting (XSS)

Weaponization

No Nuclei template, Metasploit module or public proof-of-concept found.

Timeline

Disclosed

Dec 11, 2016

Last updated

Oct 24, 2026

Identifiers

CVE-2016-9857

GHSA-hmmx-wxh4-9w8w

References

Advisorysecurityfocus.com Advisorysecurity.gentoo.org · 201701 32 Advisorynvd.nist.gov · CVE 2016 9857 Fixphpmyadmin.net · PMASA 2016 64 Webweb.archive.org

Related vulnerabilities

This CVE is medium severity; 8 of 8 other CVEs affecting phpmyadmin/phpmyadmin are rated as high or higher (top: critical).

CVE-2025-24530CVE-2023-25727CVE-2020-22452CVE-2019-12922CVE-2020-26934CVE-2020-26935CVE-2020-10802CVE-2020-10803

Provenance

Sources

OSV.devNVDFIRST.org (EPSS)

Last verifiedOct 24, 2026