Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian
CVE-2017-17527
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 · unediteddelphi_gui/WWWBrowserRunnerDM.pas in PasDoc 0.14 does not validate strings before launching the program specified by the BROWSER environment variable, which might allow remote attackers to conduct argument-injection attacks via a crafted URL. NOTE: a software maintainer has indicated that the code referencing the BROWSER environment variable is never used
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 confidencePasDoc 0.14 contains an argument injection vulnerability in WWWBrowserRunnerDM.pas where the code retrieves the BROWSER environment variable and passes it to a program launch without validating the string. A remote attacker could potentially inject malicious arguments via a crafted URL if this code path were ever executed.
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
= 8.0= 9.0= 10.0= 0.14CVSS 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
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/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.
-
Identify installed PasDoc versionRun 'pasdoc --version' or check the package version installed via dpkg/apt on Debian systemsAffected if The installed version is 0.14
-
Locate the vulnerable source fileSearch for WWWBrowserRunnerDM.pas in the PasDoc installation directory or source treeAffected if The file exists and contains code that reads the BROWSER environment variable without validation
-
Verify BROWSER environment variable usageExamine the code in WWWBrowserRunnerDM.pas for calls that execute programs using the BROWSER variable without sanitization (look for ShellExec, WinExec, or similar execution functions)Affected if The code passes the BROWSER variable directly to program execution without argument validation
-
Check if vulnerable code path is reachableReview the PasDoc application to determine if WWWBrowserRunnerDM or its BrowserRunner functionality is ever invoked during normal documentation generationAffected if The vulnerable code can be triggered by any code path in the application
-
Inspect BROWSER environment variableRun 'echo $BROWSER' on Linux or check System Environment Variables on WindowsAffected if The BROWSER variable is set to a value that could be manipulated with malicious arguments
You are affected if PasDoc 0.14 is installed and the BROWSER environment variable could be controlled or manipulated through the vulnerable code path in WWWBrowserRunnerDM.pas.
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 dataSince the maintainer indicates this code is never used, the safest remediation is to either remove the unused code entirely or add proper input validation/sanitization of the BROWSER environment variable before program execution.
Fix this in Debian Linux
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-17527 — 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-2017-17527 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
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data