CVE intelligence and bounded remediation

CVE-2017-16997 — Gnu Glibc security vulnerability

High CVSS 9.3

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.

Severity
High
CVSS
9.3 (2.0)
Published
2017-12-18
CISA KEV
Not currently listed
Ecosystem
software/application
Weaknesses
CWE-426

Affected products

  • gnu / glibc / 2.19
  • gnu / glibc / 2.20
  • gnu / glibc / 2.21
  • gnu / glibc / 2.22
  • gnu / glibc / 2.23
  • gnu / glibc / 2.25

Showing 6 representative product identities from 10 source matches. Confirm exact affected versions with the linked vendor and NVD evidence.

Matched remediation archetype

Supply-chain, dependency, build, and update integrity

This catalog composition supplies bounded fallback guidance. Explicitly reviewed curated workflows load with the complete record below.

Check exposure

  • Trace affected packages, source archives, build actions, plugins, installers, and updates from declared source to deployed artifact.
  • Confirm provenance, signatures or digests, namespace ownership, lockfile resolution, registry configuration, and build-runner trust boundaries.
  • Inventory direct, transitive, vendored, generated, and bundled copies across releases and distribution channels.

Remediate safely

  • Move to a maintained trusted artifact or remove the dependency; pin immutable identities and verify provenance and integrity before use.
  • Regenerate lockfiles and artifacts in a clean isolated build, minimize build credentials and network access, and produce an updated software bill of materials.
  • Require reviewed update policy, protected publishing, and reproducible or independently attestable builds where supported.

Authoritative sources

Complete CVE record and remediation plan

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