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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2017-5436

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 45.9.0 / 53.0 or later.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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 · unedited
An out-of-bounds write in the Graphite 2 library triggered with a maliciously crafted Graphite font. This results in a potentially exploitable crash. This issue was fixed in the Graphite 2 library as well as Mozilla products. This vulnerability affects Thunderbird < 52.1, Firefox ESR < 45.9, Firefox ESR < 52.1, and Firefox < 53.

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 confidence

An out-of-bounds write vulnerability exists in the Graphite 2 font rendering library. When a maliciously crafted Graphite font is processed, the vulnerability triggers an out-of-bounds memory write, leading to a potentially exploitable crash.

MitigationUpdate Graphite 2 library to the patched version, or upgrade affected Mozilla products (Thunderbird to 52.1+, Firefox ESR to 45.9+/52.1+, Firefox to 53+) to incorporate the fixes.

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
Affected:= 8.0
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
Enterprise Linux Server AusOperating system
Affected:= 7.3= 7.4
Enterprise Linux Server EusOperating system
Affected:= 7.3= 7.4= 7.5
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
Affected:= 6.0= 7.0
FirefoxWeb browser
Affected:< 45.9.0< 53.0= 52.0

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Check Graphite 2 library version on Debian
    Run `dpkg -l libgraphite2-3` or `dpkg -l | grep graphite` to list installed Graphite 2 packages and their versions
    Affected if The installed version is lower than the fixed version (1:1.3.6-1+deb8u1 for Debian 8) or if the package is present on Debian 8.0
  2. Check Graphite 2 package version on RHEL
    Run `rpm -qa | grep -i graphite` or `yum list installed graphite2` to list installed Graphite-related packages and versions
    Affected if The package is present on RHEL 6.0, 6.x, 7.0, or 7.x versions (specifically 6.0, 7.0, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5 as listed)
  3. Check Mozilla Firefox version
    Run `firefox --version` or check Help > About Firefox in the browser to determine the installed Firefox version
    Affected if Firefox version is less than 45.9.0, less than 53.0, or exactly 52.0 (all vulnerable)
  4. Determine if Graphite font support is actively used
    Check for presence of .grs (Graphite Smart Font) files in system font directories (`ls /usr/share/fonts/*/grs* 2>/dev/null`) or user font folders, or check if applications load Graphite-enabled fonts
    Affected if Graphite fonts (.grs files) are present and the Graphite 2 library is used to render them, which triggers the vulnerability when a malicious font is processed

You are affected if you have a vulnerable Graphite 2 library version on Debian 8.0 or RHEL 6.0-7.5, or run Firefox versions less than 45.9.0, less than 53.0, or exactly 52.0, and process Graphite fonts with the library.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Upgrade available Upgrade to 45.9.0 / 53.0 or later
Fixed in 45.9.053.0
Interim mitigation

Update Graphite 2 library to the patched version, or upgrade affected Mozilla products (Thunderbird to 52.1+, Firefox ESR to 45.9+/52.1+, Firefox to 53+) to incorporate the fixes.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing6.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,380
Get the upgrade done

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Scan for this in your stack

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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2017-5436 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • 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