CVE-2016-6908

CVE-2016-6908 is a medium-severity vulnerability in Opera Opera Browser with a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.1. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-601.

Key facts

Description

Characters from languages are such as Arabic, Hebrew are displayed from RTL (Right To Left) order in Opera 37.0.2192.105088 for Android, due to mishandling of several unicode characters such as U+FE70, U+0622, U+0623 etc and how they are rendered combined with (first strong character) such as an IP address or alphabet could lead to a spoofed URL. It was noticed that by placing neutral characters such as "/", "?" in filepath causes the URL to be flipped and displayed from Right To Left. However, in order for the URL to be spoofed the URL must begin with an IP address followed by neutral characters as omnibox considers IP address to be combination of punctuation and numbers and since LTR (Left To Right) direction is not properly enforced, this causes the entire URL to be treated and rendered from RTL (Right To Left). However, it doesn't have be an IP address, what matters is that first strong character (generally, alphabetic character) in the URL must be an RTL character.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2016-6908?
Characters from languages are such as Arabic, Hebrew are displayed from RTL (Right To Left) order in Opera 37.0.2192.105088 for Android, due to mishandling of several unicode characters such as U+FE70, U+0622, U+0623 etc and how they are rendered combined with (first strong character) such as an IP address or alphabet could lead to a spoofed URL. It was noticed that by placing neutral characters such as "/", "?" in filepath causes the URL to be flipped and displayed from Right To Left. However, in order for the URL to be spoofed the URL must begin with an IP address followed by neutral characters as omnibox considers IP address to be combination of punctuation and numbers and since LTR (Left To Right) direction is not properly enforced, this causes the entire URL to be treated and rendered from RTL (Right To Left). However, it doesn't have be an IP address, what matters is that first strong character (generally, alphabetic character) in the URL must be an RTL character.
How severe is CVE-2016-6908?
CVE-2016-6908 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 6.1, rated medium severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is low, integrity low, and availability none.
Is CVE-2016-6908 being actively exploited?
It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (49th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2016-6908?
CVE-2016-6908 affects Opera Opera Browser. See the affected-products list for the exact vulnerable versions.
How do I fix CVE-2016-6908?
Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround.
When was CVE-2016-6908 published?
CVE-2016-6908 was published on 2017-01-26 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (1)

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