CVE-2017-17556
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 · uneditedA debug tool in Synaptics TouchPad drivers allows local users with administrative access to obtain sensitive information about keyboard scan codes by modifying registry keys.
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 confidenceA debug feature in Synaptics TouchPad drivers exposes sensitive keyboard scan code information to local administrators through modifiable registry keys, enabling information disclosure of keystroke data.
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 dataall versionsCVSS 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
- High
- User interaction
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- None
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:H/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:L/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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Confirm HP Synaptics TouchPad driver installationOpen Device Manager, expand 'Mice and other pointing devices', and look for HP Synaptics TouchPad or Synaptics SMBus TouchPad driver entries. Alternatively, check Programs and Features for Synaptics driver software.Affected if HP Synaptics TouchPad driver is present on the system
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Locate Synaptics registry keysOpen Registry Editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Synaptics or HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ Hewlett-Packard\Synaptics (paths may vary by installation).Affected if Synaptics registry keys exist under the local machine software hive
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Identify debug-related registry keysWithin the Synaptics registry path, look for subkeys or values containing keywords such as 'Debug', 'Trace', 'Log', 'Dump', or 'Monitor' which indicate debug features. Expand each subkey to examine its values.Affected if Debug-related registry keys or values are found under the Synaptics registry path
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Verify registry key accessibilityRight-click on identified debug registry keys, select Permissions, and check if the Users group or Administrators have Modify or Write access. Use 'reg query' command with access control enumeration for programmatic checks.Affected if Non-privileged users or administrators can modify the debug registry keys
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Confirm keyboard scan code exposureExamine the debug registry key values for entries that reference keyboard scan codes, keystroke logging, or key capture functionality. Look for values pointing to log files or shared memory regions containing input data.Affected if Debug registry keys reference keyboard scan code collection, keystroke logging, or output paths for sensitive input data
The system is affected if HP Synaptics TouchPad driver is installed AND debug-related registry keys containing keyboard scan code references exist and are accessible for modification by local administrators.
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 dataDisable or remove the debug tool component from the Synaptics TouchPad driver, or implement registry ACLs to restrict access to the vulnerable debug-related registry keys.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 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-2017-17556 — 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-2017-17556 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data