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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2017-6960

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.1 Published 2017-03-17
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
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
An issue was discovered in apng2gif 1.7. There is an integer overflow resulting in a heap-based buffer over-read, related to the load_apng function and the imagesize variable.

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

Integer overflow in the imagesize variable within the load_apng function of apng2gif 1.7 causes a heap-based buffer over-read when processing maliciously crafted APNG files. The overflow results in insufficient buffer allocation followed by out-of-bounds memory access.

MitigationImplement proper integer overflow checks and validate image dimensions before buffer allocation in the load_apng function to prevent the heap-based over-read.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 16.04
Apng2gifApplication
Affected:= 1.7

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
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.1/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 checks

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

  1. Check if apng2gif is installed
    Run 'which apng2gif' or 'dpkg -l | grep apng2gif' on Debian/Ubuntu systems to locate the binary and its package information
    Affected if apng2gif is present on the system
  2. Determine installed apng2gif version
    Run 'apng2gif --version' or check the package version with 'dpkg -s apng2gif' (Debian/Ubuntu). Compare the version number against the affected version 1.7
    Affected if The installed version is 1.7 or if the package version matches Debian 8.0 or Ubuntu 16.04 repositories
  3. Identify the load_apng function in the binary
    Use 'strings' or 'objdump' to examine the apng2gif binary for the presence of the load_apng function, or check for the specific vulnerability pattern in binary analysis tools
    Affected if The binary contains the load_apng function from the affected source version 1.7
  4. Verify distribution package source
    Check if the installed package originated from Debian 8.0 or Ubuntu 16.04 repositories using 'apt-cache policy apng2gif' or review the package changelog
    Affected if The package was installed from Debian 8.0 or Ubuntu 16.04 official repositories

A user is affected if apng2gif version 1.7 from the vulnerable source code is installed and users process untrusted or maliciously crafted APNG files with the tool.

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

Implement proper integer overflow checks and validate image dimensions before buffer allocation in the load_apng function to prevent the heap-based over-read.

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
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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-2017-6960 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