PoiApplication · Apache
CVE-2017-12626
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 · uneditedApache POI in versions prior to release 3.17 are vulnerable to Denial of Service Attacks: 1) Infinite Loops while parsing crafted WMF, EMF, MSG and macros (POI bugs 61338 and 61294), and 2) Out of Memory Exceptions while parsing crafted DOC, PPT and XLS (POI bugs 52372 and 61295).
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 confidenceApache POI versions prior to 3.17 contain denial-of-service vulnerabilities in their file parsing components. Specifically, crafted WMF, EMF, MSG files and macros can trigger infinite loops (bugs 61338, 61294), while specially crafted DOC, PPT, and XLS files can cause Out of Memory exceptions (bugs 52372, 61295). Attackers can exploit these by providing maliciously crafted files to be processed by vulnerable POI versions.
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
PoiApplication
< 3.17CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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 Apache POI JAR filesLocate poi-*.jar files in your application's lib directory, classpath, or WAR/WEB-INF/lib folder. Common names include poi-x.x.jar, poi-ooxml-x.x.jar, poi-scratchpad-x.x.jar.Affected if No poi JAR files found means POI is not in use; if found, proceed to version check.
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Determine POI version from JAR filenameRead the version number directly from the JAR file name (e.g., poi-3.16.jar indicates version 3.16). Compare this to the affected range of versions prior to 3.17.Affected if The version number in the filename is less than 3.17 (e.g., 3.16, 3.15, 3.14, etc.)
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Check JAR manifest for versionOpen the META-INF/MANIFEST.MF file inside any poi-*.jar file and look for the 'Implementation-Version' or 'Bundle-Version' attribute.Affected if The manifest shows a version less than 3.17
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Review build configuration for POI dependencyExamine your pom.xml, build.gradle, or similar dependency management file for the Apache POI version declaration. Look for <version> tags containing 'poi' or 'poi-ooxml'.Affected if The declared dependency version is less than 3.17
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Confirm file processing usageIdentify if your application code or dependencies process WMF, EMF, MSG, DOC, PPT, or XLS files using POI. Search for code that uses HWPF, HSLF, HSSF, XSSF, or MSG parser classes.Affected if The application processes any of these file types using POI's parsing components AND the version is below 3.17
Your environment is affected if Apache POI version is below 3.17 AND your application uses POI to parse WMF, EMF, MSG, DOC, PPT, or XLS files.
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 data3.17
Upgrade Apache POI library to version 3.17 or later to receive the fixes for the infinite loop and OOM vulnerabilities in file parsers.
Fix this in Poi
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing8.0 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 $4,288.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-12626 — 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-2017-12626 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
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