dbcve.org
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2017-11111

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-07-08
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

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 · unedited
In Netwide Assembler (NASM) 2.14rc0, preproc.c allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer overflow and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted file.

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 confidence

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the NASM preprocessor (preproc.c) in version 2.14rc0. The vulnerability is triggered when processing a specially crafted input file, leading to application crash (denial of service) or potentially other unspecified impact.

MitigationUpgrade NASM to a version that addresses this vulnerability (2.14 or later). If upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement input validation and file size limits on assembly source files processed by the preprocessor.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 14.04
Netwide AssemblerApplication
Affected:= 2.14

CVSS 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
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify NASM installation
    Run 'nasm -v' or 'nasm --version' to display the installed NASM version
    Affected if NASM is not installed or the command fails
  2. Compare version to affected release
    Compare the installed version output to 2.14rc0 (release candidate 0) - note that version 2.14 (stable) and later versions are NOT affected
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.14rc0
  3. Confirm preprocessor is in use
    The vulnerability resides in the preprocessor (preproc.c). NASM automatically invokes preprocessing when assembling .asm or .inc files, so any assembly operation with a crafted input could trigger the flaw
    Affected if NASM is used to assemble files and the input triggers the vulnerability condition

A system is affected only if NASM version 2.14rc0 is installed and used to process assembly source files through the preprocessor.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade NASM to a version that addresses this vulnerability (2.14 or later). If upgrading is not immediately feasible, implement input validation and file size limits on assembly source files processed by the preprocessor.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
12.0 hours of engineering $2,080
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-11111 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data