CVE-2017-5232
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 · uneditedAll editions of Rapid7 Nexpose installers prior to version 6.4.24 contain a DLL preloading vulnerability, wherein it is possible for the installer to load a malicious DLL located in the current working directory of the installer.
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 confidenceAll editions of Rapid7 Nexpose installers prior to version 6.4.24 contain a DLL preloading vulnerability where the installer loads DLLs from the current working directory before checking system directories. This allows an attacker with local access to place a malicious DLL in the same directory as the installer, which will be loaded with elevated privileges during installation.
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<= 6.4.23CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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.
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Locate Nexpose installation or installer filesSearch for Nexpose installation directories (commonly C:\Program Files\Rapid7\Nexpose or similar on Windows, /opt/rapid7/nexpose on Linux) or installer files (look for files named nexpose-*setup*.exe, nexpose-*installer*.msi, or similar patterns)Affected if Nexpose installer files or installation directories are found on the system
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Identify the Nexpose versionFor installed Nexpose: check the product version in the application, typically found in Help > About or in version files within the installation directory. For installer files: right-click the installer, select Properties, and check the Version field in the Details tabAffected if The version displayed is 6.4.23 or earlier, or if no version is displayed and the file appears to be an older installer
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Verify current working directory behavior during installationThis is an installer vulnerability; no runtime check needed. If you plan to run an older installer, ensure the directory is clean and trusted before executionAffected if You are planning to run an installer version that is 6.4.23 or earlier from a directory that could contain untrusted files
You are affected if you have a Nexpose installer or installation of version 6.4.23 or earlier, as these versions contain the DLL preloading vulnerability.
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 dataUpgrade Rapid7 Nexpose installers to version 6.4.24 or later to address the DLL preloading vulnerability.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-5232 — 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-2017-5232 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