CVE-2017-11338
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 · uneditedThere is an infinite loop in the Exiv2::Image::printIFDStructure function of image.cpp in Exiv2 0.26. A crafted input will lead to a remote denial of service attack.
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 · moderate confidenceExiv2 0.26 contains an infinite loop vulnerability in the Exiv2::Image::printIFDStructure function in image.cpp. When processing a specially crafted image file with malformed IFD (Image File Directory) structures, the function fails to terminate its loop, causing a denial of service through resource exhaustion.
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= 0.26CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify installed Exiv2 versionRun 'exiv2 --version' or 'exiv2 -V' to display the version number of the Exiv2 binary installed on the systemAffected if The version displayed is 0.26 exactly, indicating the vulnerable version is in use
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Check for Exiv2 library presenceLocate the Exiv2 library file (typically libexiv2.so on Linux, libexiv2.dylib on macOS, or exiv2.dll on Windows) and query its version using 'exiv2 --version' or by checking file propertiesAffected if The library version resolves to 0.26
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Verify applications using Exiv2Identify applications that depend on or link against the Exiv2 library (such as image viewers, photo management tools, or command-line utilities) by checking compiled dependencies or running 'ldd' (Linux) or 'otool -L' (macOS) on suspected binariesAffected if Any application linked to Exiv2 version 0.26 is present on the system
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Confirm IFD processing occursExamine whether the environment involves processing image files (especially TIFF, JPEG, or other formats containing EXIF metadata) using Exiv2; the vulnerability triggers specifically when malformed IFD structures are encountered during metadata parsingAffected if The system processes image files with Exiv2 and those files could potentially contain malformed IFD structures from untrusted sources
User is affected if Exiv2 version 0.26 is installed AND the system or any application uses it to process image files, as the infinite loop triggers when malformed IFD structures are encountered.
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 Exiv2 to a version newer than 0.26 that contains the patch for this vulnerability, or implement input validation to reject malformed IFD structures before processing.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA3.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-11338 — 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-2017-11338 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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