CVE-2017-14578
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 · uneditedIrfanView 4.44 - 32bit allows attackers to cause a denial of service or possibly have unspecified other impact via a crafted .ani file, related to "Data from Faulting Address controls Branch Selection starting at ntdll_77130000!RtlpCoalesceFreeBlocks+0x00000000000004b4."
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 confidenceIrfanView 4.44 32-bit contains a memory corruption vulnerability when parsing crafted ANI (animated cursor) files. The vulnerability triggers via malformed data in the ANI file that causes controlled memory corruption (write-what-where condition) in ntdll, leading to denial of service or potential code execution.
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= 4.44CVSS 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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Verify IrfanView installation existsSearch for irfanview.exe in typical installation directories such as C:\Program Files\IrfanView or C:\Program Files (x86)\IrfanView, or check the Windows registry under HKLM\SOFTWARE\IrfanView or HKLM\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\IrfanView for the InstallPath value.Affected if IrfanView executable is found on the system
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Confirm installed version is 4.44Right-click irfanview.exe, select Properties, then go to the Details tab to view the File Version. Alternatively, run 'irfanview.exe /?’ and check the version information displayed, or query the registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\IrfanView\InstallPath and examine the version string in the registered application entry.Affected if The displayed version equals exactly 4.44 (the only version listed as affected)
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Determine if ANI file handling is activeCheck if the ANI format is associated with IrfanView by examining file associations in the Windows registry under HKCR\.ani or by opening IrfanView and navigating to Options -> File Types to see if ANI is listed among enabled formats.Affected if ANI files are associated with or can be opened by IrfanView, enabling the vulnerable parsing code path
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Check for presence of ANI files that may be processedSearch the system for .ani files using File Explorer search or the command 'dir /s /b C:\*.ani' in PowerShell, particularly in user-accessible directories such as Downloads, Desktop, or shared network folders.Affected if ANI files exist on the system and users could open them via IrfanView, triggering the vulnerable parser
A user is affected if IrfanView version 4.44 is installed, ANI file support is enabled, and the user could open a crafted malicious ANI file with IrfanView.
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 dataUpdate IrfanView to the latest version if a patch is available; otherwise, remove or disable the .ani file type association and warn users against opening untrusted ANI files.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation1.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-14578 — 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-2017-14578 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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