CVE-2017-17429
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 · uneditedIn K7 Antivirus Premium before 15.1.0.53, user-controlled input to the K7Sentry device is not sufficiently authenticated: a local user with a LOW integrity process can access a raw hard disk by sending a specific IOCTL.
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 confidenceThe K7Sentry kernel-mode driver in K7 Antivirus Premium before 15.1.0.53 fails to properly validate the authorization level of callers before processing certain IOCTL requests. This allows a local attacker running a low integrity process to send a specific IOCTL code and gain raw hard disk access, bypassing normal access controls.
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< 15.1.0.53< 15.1.0308< 14.2.0137< 15.1.0297< 15.1.0324< 16.0.0131< 15.1.0324CVSS 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
- None
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/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 K7 security productOpen Programs and Features (appwiz.cpl) or check C:\Program Files\K7 Computing for product folders. Look for K7 Antivirus Premium, K7 Endpoint, K7 Internet Security, K7 Total Security, or K7 Ultimate Security.Affected if Any K7 product from the affected product list is installed.
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Determine installed product versionIn Programs and Features, click on the K7 product to view the version, or check the version in the product's main UI under About or Help. Compare this version number to the affected ranges: Antivirus < 15.1.0.53 or < 15.1.0308; Endpoint < 14.2.0137; Internet Security < 15.1.0297; Total Security < 15.1.0324 or < 16.0.0131; Ultimate Security < 15.1.0324.Affected if The installed version falls within any of the affected version ranges.
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Verify K7Sentry driver is loadedOpen an elevated command prompt and run 'sc query K7Sentry' or check Device Manager under System Devices for 'K7Sentry'. Also run 'driverquery /v | findstr K7Sentry' to see if the driver is currently loaded in memory.Affected if The K7Sentry driver is running and the product version is in the affected range.
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Check for low-integrity process disk access attemptsMonitor Windows Event Logs or use Sysmon to look for IOCTL 0x7c1a4 (known malicious IOCTL for this driver) being called from low-integrity processes. Use Process Monitor (ProcMon) to filter on Device\K7Sentry and check the integrity level of calling processes.Affected if Low-integrity processes are successfully sending IOCTL requests to K7Sentry and gaining disk access.
You are affected if a K7 security product is installed with a version number lower than the patched releases listed, and the K7Sentry kernel driver is active in the system.
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 data14.2.013715.1.0.5315.1.0297
Update K7 Antivirus Premium to version 15.1.0.53 or later to obtain the vendor patch. As a compensating control, minimize the number of local users with privileged access and monitor for suspicious disk access patterns.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-17429 — 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-2017-17429 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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