CVE-2017-14636
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 · uneditedBecause of an integer overflow in sam2p 0.49.3, a loop executes 0xffffffff times, ending with an invalid read of size 1 in the Image::Indexed::sortPal function in image.cpp. However, this also causes memory corruption because of an attempted write to the invalid d[0xfffffffe] array element.
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 confidenceInteger overflow in sam2p 0.49.3 causes a loop to execute 0xffffffff times, leading to an invalid read of size 1 and memory corruption via attempted write to d[0xfffffffe] in the Image::Indexed::sortPal function in image.cpp.
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= 0.49.3CVSS 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
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/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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Check if sam2p is installedRun `sam2p --version` or look for sam2p binary in common paths like /usr/bin/sam2p, /usr/local/bin/sam2pAffected if sam2p is not installed or version cannot be determined
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Verify the installed version is 0.49.3Compare the output from `sam2p --version` to the affected version 0.49.3Affected if Installed version is exactly 0.49.3
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Identify if processing Indexed color imagesThe vulnerability is in the Image::Indexed::sortPal function in image.cpp. This function handles Indexed color mode images (paletted images such as GIF, PNG with palette, etc).Affected if Processing Indexed (paletted) color images with sam2p 0.49.3
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Confirm the sortPal function is invokedThe overflow occurs when sortPal attempts to sort a palette array with a specific condition that triggers integer overflow. Monitor image processing operations that invoke palette sorting.Affected if A palette sorting operation triggers the overflow condition in sortPal leading to the loop executing 0xffffffff times
You are affected if sam2p version 0.49.3 is installed AND you process Indexed (paletted) color images that invoke the sortPal function with conditions causing the integer overflow.
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 to a patched version of sam2p; avoid processing untrusted images with vulnerable versions until patched.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-14636 — 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-2017-14636 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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