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LibtiffApplication

CVE-2017-5563

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2017-01-23
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
LibTIFF version 4.0.7 is vulnerable to a heap-based buffer over-read in tif_lzw.c resulting in DoS or code execution via a crafted bmp image to tools/bmp2tiff.

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

LibTIFF 4.0.7 contains a heap-based buffer over-read vulnerability in tif_lzw.c, specifically triggered when the bmp2tiff tool processes a specially crafted BMP image. This out-of-bounds read can cause denial of service and potentially allow arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade LibTIFF to a version that patches this vulnerability; if immediate upgrading is not feasible, avoid processing untrusted BMP images with the bmp2tiff tool to prevent exploitation.

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
LibtiffApplication
Affected:= 4.0.7

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. Identify the installed LibTIFF version
    Run `tiffinfo -v` or `tiffdump -v` to display the LibTIFF library version. Alternatively, check your system's package manager: `dpkg -l libtiff*` (Debian/Ubuntu), `rpm -qa | grep tiff` (RHEL/CentOS), or `brew list libtiff` (macOS).
    Affected if The reported version is exactly 4.0.7
  2. Verify the bmp2tiff tool is present
    Check if the bmp2tiff binary exists in your system by running `which bmp2tiff` or locating it with `find /usr -name bmp2tiff 2>/dev/null`.
    Affected if The bmp2tiff executable is found on the system and is linked against LibTIFF 4.0.7
  3. Confirm the vulnerable tif_lzw.c component
    Inspect the LibTIFF shared library for the tif_lzw.c module. On Linux, use `strings /usr/lib/*/libtiff.so* | grep -i lzw` or check the library linked to bmp2tiff with `ldd $(which bmp2tiff)` and verify the libtiff version.
    Affected if The library in use is version 4.0.7 and includes the LZW compression handling from tif_lzw.c

Your environment is affected if LibTIFF version 4.0.7 is installed and the bmp2tiff tool is available to process BMP image files.

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade LibTIFF to a version that patches this vulnerability; if immediate upgrading is not feasible, avoid processing untrusted BMP images with the bmp2tiff tool to prevent exploitation.

Fix this in Libtiff Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2017-5563 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
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