CVE-2017-11159
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 · uneditedMultiple untrusted search path vulnerabilities in installer in Synology Photo Station Uploader before 1.4.2-084 on Windows allows local attackers to execute arbitrary code and conduct DLL hijacking attack via a Trojan horse (1) shfolder.dll, (2) ntmarta.dll, (3) secur32.dll or (4) dwmapi.dll file in the current working directory.
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 confidenceThe Synology Photo Station Uploader installer before version 1.4.2-084 on Windows suffers from untrusted search path vulnerabilities allowing DLL hijacking. The installer loads DLLs from the current working directory without validating the path, enabling a local attacker to place malicious versions of shfolder.dll, ntmarta.dll, secur32.dll, or dwmapi.dll to achieve arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the user running the installer.
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<= 1.4.1-083CVSS 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
- Low
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate Synology Photo Station Uploader installationCheck for the application in Windows Add/Remove Programs (appwiz.cpl) or look in typical installation directories such as C:\Program Files\Synology\Photo Station Uploader or C:\Program Files (x86)\Synology\Photo Station UploaderAffected if The application is not found in either location, indicating it may not be installed or uses a different install path
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Identify installed versionRight-click the Photo Station Uploader executable (usually named PhotoStationUploader.exe or similar) in the installation folder, select Properties, and view the Version tab. Alternatively, check the version displayed in Add/Remove Programs entry for Synology Photo Station UploaderAffected if Version information cannot be retrieved or shows an older version number
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Compare version to affected rangeCompare the identified version number to the vulnerable range: any version <= 1.4.1-083 is affected. Version 1.4.2-084 and later are not vulnerable. Use string comparison (for example, 1.4.1-083 < 1.4.2-084)Affected if The installed version is 1.4.1-083 or any earlier version such as 1.4.0-xxx, indicating the installer used to set up this version was vulnerable to DLL hijacking
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Assess installer execution context (if applicable)If you need to determine past vulnerability exposure, consider whether the installer was ever run from directories writable by other users (such as network shares, downloads folder, or user-controlled directories). The vulnerability triggers when the installer loads DLLs from its current working directoryAffected if The installer was historically run from a directory controlled by other users while using a vulnerable version (<=1.4.1-083), which would have allowed DLL hijacking
If the installed Synology Photo Station Uploader version is 1.4.1-083 or earlier, the environment is affected by this DLL hijacking vulnerability in the installer.
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 Synology Photo Station Uploader to version 1.4.2-084 or later. Avoid running the installer from directories writable by other users, and ensure the current working directory is trusted and not controllable by unprivileged users.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-11159 — 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-2017-11159 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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