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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2017-5444

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-06-11
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to 45.9.0 / 53.0 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
A buffer overflow vulnerability while parsing "application/http-index-format" format content when the header contains improperly formatted data. This allows for an out-of-bounds read of data from memory. 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

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the parsing of 'application/http-index-format' content within Firefox and Thunderbird. When headers contain improperly formatted data, the parser performs an out-of-bounds read, allowing memory access beyond allocated buffer boundaries.

MitigationUpgrade to Firefox 53+, Firefox ESR 52.1+ (or 45.9+), or Thunderbird 52.1+ to obtain the vendor patch for this vulnerability.

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:= 9.0
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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
None
Availability
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/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 checks

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

  1. Identify installed Firefox version
    Run 'firefox --version' or check Help > About Firefox in the application menu
    Affected if The reported version is before 45.9.0, is 52.0, or is before 53.0 (such as 52.x versions below 52.1)
  2. Identify installed Thunderbird version
    Run 'thunderbird --version' or check Help > About Thunderbird in the application menu
    Affected if Thunderbird is installed and the version is before the patched version (52.1 or later)
  3. Check OS package versions on RHEL-based systems
    Run 'rpm -qa | grep -i firefox' or 'rpm -qa | grep -i thunderbird' to list installed Mozilla package versions
    Affected if The installed package version matches the affected Red Hat Enterprise Linux versions listed (6.0, 7.0, 7.3, 7.4, 7.5)
  4. Check OS package versions on Debian systems
    Run 'dpkg -l | grep -i firefox' or 'dpkg -l | grep -i thunderbird' to list installed packages
    Affected if The installed package version corresponds to Debian Linux 9.0

You are affected if you have Firefox before 45.9.0, Firefox 52.0, Firefox before 53.0, or Thunderbird before 52.1 installed, or the corresponding OS package versions from the affected Red Hat or Debian distributions.

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

Upgrade to Firefox 53+, Firefox ESR 52.1+ (or 45.9+), or Thunderbird 52.1+ to obtain the vendor patch for this vulnerability.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing1.0 h
  • Review / QA1.0 h
5.0 hours of engineering $910
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-2017-5444 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