It sets it to 16 if it’s above that, assuming the config option is turned on (which it is by default) and OptiFine isn’t installed. Wasn’t that the maximum or does the distance start at 0 like potion IDs do?
I don’t exactly know what integrated GPUs were affected, and some people has dedicated cards which had the same issue, so I’m not at all sure whether that’s even a factor.
I remember that one, used to just send people the files directly until the automated download was working again. I didn’t know it affected things other than CCL though.