LintianApplication · Debian
CVE-2017-8829
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 · uneditedDeserialization vulnerability in lintian through 2.5.50.3 allows attackers to trigger code execution by requesting a review of a source package with a crafted YAML file.
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 confidenceA deserialization vulnerability in lintian (a Debian package quality checker) allows remote attackers to achieve arbitrary code execution by submitting a specially crafted YAML file when requesting a source package review. The vulnerability stems from unsafe deserialization of YAML input.
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
LintianApplication
<= 2.5.50.3CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Check if lintian is installedRun 'dpkg -l lintian' on Debian/Ubuntu systems, or 'which lintian' to locate the binaryAffected if lintian is not installed or not found on the system - not affected in that case
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Determine the installed lintian versionRun 'lintian --version' or 'dpkg -s lintian | grep Version' to retrieve the exact version numberAffected if The installed version is 2.5.50.3 or any version lower than this (e.g., 2.5.49, 2.5.45, etc.)
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Compare version to affected rangeReview the version output from step 2 and compare it against the affected range: <= 2.5.50.3Affected if The version falls within <= 2.5.50.3 - the system is potentially affected if the vulnerable code path is reachable
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Check if package review submission is accessibleInspect lintian configuration files in /etc/lintian/ and ~/.lintianrc for any enabled remote submission handlers or review submission featuresAffected if Package review or remote submission features are enabled and accessible to untrusted users, allowing them to submit YAML files for lintian to process
You are affected if lintian is installed AND the version is 2.5.50.3 or lower AND untrusted YAML files can be submitted through the package review feature for lintian to process.
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 dataUpgrade lintian to a version newer than 2.5.50.3. If immediate upgrade is not possible, restrict or validate package review submissions to prevent untrusted YAML files from being processed.
Fix this in Lintian
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing6.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $6,176.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2017-8829 — 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-2017-8829 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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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.
- 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