CVE-2017-5997
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 · uneditedThe SAP Message Server HTTP daemon in SAP KERNEL 7.21-7.49 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory consumption and process crash) via multiple msgserver/group?group= requests with a crafted size of the group parameter, aka SAP Security Note 2358972.
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 confidenceThe SAP Message Server HTTP daemon in SAP KERNEL versions 7.21-7.49 contains a memory consumption vulnerability. Remote attackers exploit this by sending multiple HTTP requests to the msgserver/group endpoint with a crafted (oversized) group parameter value. This causes excessive memory allocation leading to process crash and denial of service.
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= 7.21= 7.22= 7.42CVSS 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
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Identify SAP Kernel versionRun the SAP kernel executable version check command (typically 'disp+work -v' or check via SAPMSS<instance> process) to obtain the installed kernel release and patch levelAffected if The installed kernel version is 7.21, 7.22, or 7.42 (any patch level)
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Confirm Message Server process is runningCheck for the SAP Message Server process (often named 'msg_server' or 'msdispatcher' depending on configuration) in the running processes list using system monitoring toolsAffected if The Message Server process is active and consuming resources
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Verify Message Server HTTP port is openCheck if the SAP Message Server HTTP listener port is in LISTENING state (common ports 8100-8199 range, check your specific SAP instance configuration)Affected if The HTTP port for the message server is open and accepting connections
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Test msgserver/group endpoint accessibilitySend an HTTP GET request to the msgserver/group endpoint (example: http://<hostname>:<port>/msgserver/group) and observe the responseAffected if The endpoint responds to HTTP requests, indicating the vulnerable daemon is accessible over the network
You are affected if you run SAP Kernel 7.21, 7.22, or 7.42 with the Message Server HTTP daemon enabled and the msgserver/group endpoint exposed.
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 dataApply SAP Security Note 2358972 which provides the kernel patch addressing this vulnerability. Additionally, implement network-level filtering or rate limiting on the message server HTTP port as a compensating control until the patch can be deployed.
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-5997 — 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-2017-5997 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
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