Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2017-14120
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 · uneditedunrar 0.0.1 (aka unrar-free or unrar-gpl) suffers from a directory traversal vulnerability for RAR v2 archives: pathnames of the form ../[filename] are unpacked into the upper 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 · moderate confidenceunrar-free/unrar-gpl versions up to 0.0.1 contain a directory traversal vulnerability when processing RAR v2 archives. The vulnerability allows specially crafted archive entries with pathnames containing '../' sequences to write files outside the intended extraction directory, potentially overwriting system files or accessing sensitive data.
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
= 9.0= 0.0.1CVSS 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
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
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 unrar packageRun 'dpkg -l | grep -E "unrar-free|unrar-gpl"' on Debian systems, or check installed packages via your system package managerAffected if Package named unrar-free or unrar-gpl is installed
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Determine unrar versionRun 'unrar-free -version' or check the package version via 'dpkg -s unrar-free' or 'dpkg -s unrar-gpl'Affected if Version is 0.0.1 or the package version matches Debian 9.0 repositories
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Verify RAR v2 archive processing capabilityCheck if the unrar tool can list or extract RAR v2 format archives. Use 'unrar-free -t archive.rar' on any RAR archives you have, or test with a known RAR v2 sampleAffected if The tool successfully processes RAR v2 format archives (version 2 or older RAR format)
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Inspect extraction behavior with path traversalCreate or obtain a test RAR v2 archive containing entries with '../' in filenames (e.g., '../test.txt'), extract it to a clean test directory, and verify if files were written outside the target directoryAffected if Files are extracted outside the intended extraction directory when '../' sequences are present in archive entry paths
User is affected if unrar-free or unrar-gpl version 0.0.1 is installed and they process RAR v2 archives containing '../' path sequences, allowing arbitrary file writes outside the extraction directory
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 dataAvoid extracting untrusted RAR v2 archives using unrar-free/unrar-gpl until an updated version with proper path sanitization is available. Consider using alternative RAR extraction tools or sandboxed environments for untrusted archives.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 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 $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-14120 — 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-2017-14120 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
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