CVE-2017-6438

Publication date 15 March 2017

Last updated 25 August 2025

Ubuntu priority

Cvss 3 Severity Score

Description

Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_unicode_node function in bplist.c in libimobiledevice libplist 1.12 allows local users to cause a denial of service (out-of-bounds write) and possibly code execution via a crafted plist file.

Read the notes from the security team

Status

Show unmaintained releases

Package	Ubuntu Release	Status
libplist	18.10 cosmic	Not affected
	18.04 LTS bionic	Not affected
	17.10 artful	Not affected
	17.04 zesty	Ignored end of life
	16.10 yakkety	Ignored end of life
	16.04 LTS xenial	Not affected
	14.04 LTS trusty	Not in release
	12.04 LTS precise	Ignored end of life

Notes

ratliff

poc does not exhibit failure behavior in vanilla 1.12 most likely introduced in post-1.12 refactoring of parse_bin_node

Patch details

For informational purposes only. We recommend not to cherry-pick updates. How can I get the fixes?

Package	Patch details
libplist	Upstream: dccd929

Severity score breakdown

CVSS version: CVSS v3.0

Base score 7.3 · High

Base metrics

Parameter	Value
Attack vector	Local
Attack complexity	Low
Privileges required	Low
User interaction	Required
Scope	Unchanged
Confidentiality impact	High
Integrity impact	High
Availability impact	High

Scores

Parameter	Value
Base score	7.3 · High
Exploitability score	-
Impact score	-

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H