9.3

CVE-2017-16997: gnu glibc Untrusted Search Path

Modified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2017-16997DEBIAN-CVE-2017-16997
Published 18-12-2017Last modified 05-08-2024

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2017-16997 is a high (CVSS 9.3) Untrusted Search Path vulnerability in gnu glibc. EPSS estimates a 2.90% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 86.9% of scored vulnerabilities.

Priority
Routine

Not severe (CVSS 7.8, local access); no exploitation reported by the 5 checked sources

Source freshness unavailable

How is this decided?
CVSS score
9.3/10
010
High · v2.0 (NVD)
EPSS score
2.90%
0%100%
Low · 0.00 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedNot listed by any tracked catalog.
RansomwareNot flaggedNo ransomware use recorded.
Public exploits0No public exploits recorded

Advisory lineage

Upstream 0 · Downstream 6 · Related 3
MGASA-2018-0096MGASA-2018-0098OPENSUSE-SU-2024:10792-1RHSA-2018:3092SUSE-SU-2018:0074-1USN-3534-1

Timeline

  1. 18-12-2017
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 05-08-2024
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

elf/dl-load.c in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) 2.19 through 2.26 mishandles RPATH and RUNPATH containing $ORIGIN for a privileged (setuid or AT_SECURE) program, which allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse library in the current working directory, related to the fillin_rpath and decompose_rpath functions. This is associated with misinterpretion of an empty RPATH/RUNPATH token as the "./" directory. NOTE: this configuration of RPATH/RUNPATH for a privileged program is apparently very uncommon; most likely, no such program is shipped with any common Linux distribution.

CVSS metrics

4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

2.90%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

87%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

No change 0.00 pp

From 2.90% on 04-10-2026

04-10-202603-11-2026

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs
CISA KEV

Not in the CISA KEV catalog.

ENISA CNW

Not in the ENISA CNW catalog.

CIRCL

Not in the CIRCL catalog.

Public exploits

0 found

No public exploits indexed.

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Version check

Known conditions: local access, no authentication, user interaction (CVSS vector). Other conditions: not stated in public data.

Redhat3 products
Ubuntu2 products
  • eglibc< 2.19-0ubuntu6.14
  • glibc< 2.23-0ubuntu10
Debian1 product
  • glibc< 2.25-6
Gnu1 product
  • glibc2.19 | 2.20 | 2.21 | 2.22 | 2.23 | 2.25 | 2.26

4 vendors · 7 products

References

10 links