CVE-2017-16997
7.8 · HIGHOverview
CVE-2017-16997 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting gnu glibc. It was published on December 18, 2017 and has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.8, rated HIGH. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical 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.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from gnu. Update glibc to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
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References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2017-16997?
CVE-2017-16997 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting gnu glibc. It was published on December 18, 2017 and has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.8 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2017-16997?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.0 base score of 7.8, rated HIGH. It requires local or adjacent network access to exploit. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2017-16997?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from gnu. Update glibc to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2017-16997?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2017-16997 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
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