Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2014-4617
Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.
NVD · uneditedThe do_uncompress function in g10/compress.c in GnuPG 1.x before 1.4.17 and 2.x before 2.0.24 allows context-dependent attackers to cause a denial of service (infinite loop) via malformed compressed packets, as demonstrated by an a3 01 5b ff byte sequence.
Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.
dbcve analysis · high confidenceGnuPG versions before 1.4.17 and 2.0.24 contain an infinite loop vulnerability in the do_uncompress function in g10/compress.c. When processing malformed compressed packets containing the specific byte sequence a3 01 5b ff, the decompression logic enters an endless loop, causing denial of service.
Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.
Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.
NVD · CPE data
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 7.0= 2.0= 2.0.1= 2.0.3= 2.0.4= 2.0.5= 2.0.6= 2.0.7= 2.0.8= 2.0.10= 2.0.11= 2.0.12= 2.0.13= 12.3= 13.1CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.
From the vector- Attack vector
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Authentication
- None
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- Partial
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P
Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.
dbcve checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check installed GnuPG 1.4.x versionRun 'gpg --version' or 'gpg --version 2>&1 | head -1' to identify the installed version in the 1.4.x branchAffected if Version is present but lower than 1.4.17 (for example, 1.4.16 or earlier)
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Check installed GnuPG 2.0.x versionRun 'gpg2 --version' or 'gpg2 --version 2>&1 | head -1' to identify the installed version in the 2.0.x branchAffected if Version is present but lower than 2.0.24 (for example, 2.0.23 or earlier)
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Confirm package version from system package managerOn Debian: 'dpkg -l | grep gnupg'. On openSUSE: 'rpm -qa | grep gnupg'. This verifies the exact packaged version.Affected if The reported package version matches the affected ranges listed in the CVE (for Debian 7.0, openSUSE 12.3, 13.1, or specific 2.0.x versions before 2.0.24)
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Identify if GnuPG is used to decrypt or verify third-party filesReview any automated or manual processes that use GnuPG to decompress, decrypt, or verify files from untrusted sources. The vulnerability triggers when processing malformed compressed packets.Affected if The GnuPG installation processes external or untrusted compressed data, as the flaw requires a specifically crafted malformed packet (byte sequence a3 01 5b ff) to be processed
You are affected if your installed GnuPG version is 1.4.x before 1.4.17 or 2.0.x before 2.0.24, AND you process compressed data from potentially untrusted sources.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.
From vendor dataUpgrade to GnuPG 1.4.17 or later, or 2.0.24 or later. The fix involves adding proper validation and bounds checking in the decompression routine to handle malformed packets without entering an infinite loop.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,488.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2014-4617 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2014-4617 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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