dbcve.org
Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2017-14928

MEDIUM · 5.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-09-30
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
58/100
Remediation priority · Elevated
No privileges

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 · unedited
In Poppler 0.59.0, a NULL Pointer Dereference exists in AnnotRichMedia::Configuration::Configuration in Annot.cc via a crafted PDF document.

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 confidence

A NULL Pointer Dereference vulnerability exists in Poppler version 0.59.0 within the AnnotRichMedia::Configuration::Configuration constructor in Annot.cc. The vulnerability is triggered when processing a specially crafted PDF document, causing the application to dereference a NULL pointer and potentially crash or exhibit undefined behavior.

MitigationUpdate Poppler to a version newer than 0.59.0 where the NULL pointer initialization bug in AnnotRichMedia::Configuration has been fixed, or apply the relevant upstream patch to properly initialize the pointer before use.

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
Affected:= 9.0
PopplerApplication
Affected:= 0.59.0

CVSS 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
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check installed Poppler version
    Run 'pdftotext -v' or 'pdfinfo -v' to get the Poppler version, or check via package manager: 'dpkg -l | grep poppler' on Debian systems
    Affected if Poppler version equals 0.59.0 exactly
  2. Verify Annot.cc vulnerability source
    Examine the AnnotRichMedia::Configuration::Configuration constructor in the Poppler source file Annot.cc - look for missing pointer initialization before use
    Affected if The constructor fails to initialize a pointer before dereferencing it
  3. Confirm PDF processing context
    Identify any application or tool using the Poppler library to render or process PDF documents - common tools include pdftotext, pdfinfo, or custom applications linking against libpoppler
    Affected if Poppler is actively used to process PDF files, particularly those containing specially crafted rich media annotations

Environment is affected if Poppler version is exactly 0.59.0 and is used to process PDF documents with AnnotRichMedia content

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Poppler to a version newer than 0.59.0 where the NULL pointer initialization bug in AnnotRichMedia::Configuration has been fixed, or apply the relevant upstream patch to properly initialize the pointer before use.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
7.0 hours of engineering $1,210
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-14928 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • 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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