CVE-2017-2814
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 · uneditedAn exploitable heap overflow vulnerability exists in the image rendering functionality of Poppler 0.53.0. A specifically crafted pdf can cause an image resizing after allocation has already occurred, resulting in heap corruption which can lead to code execution. An attacker controlled PDF file can be used to trigger this vulnerability.
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 confidenceA heap overflow vulnerability exists in Poppler 0.53.0's image rendering functionality. When processing a specifically crafted PDF, image resizing occurs after memory allocation, causing heap corruption that can be exploited for code execution.
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= 0.53.0CVSS 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.
-
Detect Poppler installationRun 'pkg-config --modversion poppler' or check for poppler-utils package using your system package manager (e.g., 'dpkg -l | grep poppler' on Debian-based systems, 'rpm -qa | grep poppler' on RHEL-based systems)Affected if Poppler is not installed on the system
-
Confirm exact Poppler versionRun 'pkg-config --modversion poppler' or check the output from the package manager query in the previous step. Compare the version string to 0.53.0Affected if The installed version is exactly 0.53.0
-
Identify Poppler library usageCheck for applications or services that link to libpoppler by running 'ldconfig -p | grep poppler' or 'ldd <executable> | grep poppler' for specific PDF-processing applicationsAffected if Applications using libpoppler for image rendering are in use
-
Check for PDF processing with image contentInspect PDF files being processed or identify if the system runs tools that render PDF images (such as pdfimages, pdftocairo, or applications using Poppler's CairoOutputDev)Affected if PDF files containing images are being processed through Poppler
The system is affected if Poppler version 0.53.0 is installed and PDF files with image content are processed using Poppler's image rendering functionality.
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 dataUpdate Poppler to a version that includes the fix for this vulnerability, and avoid opening untrusted or unknown PDF files.
- Consultation6.0 h
- Implementation12.0 h
- Testing8.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $8,448.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-2814 — 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-2017-2814 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