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Fencer Intel
critical 9.8

CVE-2017-16548 json

The receive_xattr function in xattrs.c in rsync 3.1.2 and 3.1.3-development does not check for a trailing '\0' character in an xattr name,…

published 2017-11-06 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-7741

cvss
9.8
version 3.1, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
5.8%
EPSS 5.8% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 93%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

The receive_xattr function in xattrs.c in rsync 3.1.2 and 3.1.3-development does not check for a trailing '\0' character in an xattr name, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (heap-based buffer over-read and application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by sending crafted data to the daemon.

Patch / fix

  • rsync Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 3.1.2-2.1

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-16548

  • rsync Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 3.1.0-2ubuntu0.4
  • rsync Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 3.1.1-3ubuntu1.2

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-16548

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • rsync SLES for SAP 11 SP4, SLES 11 SP4 3.0.4-2.53.3.1
  • rsync SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2 +4 more 3.1.0-13.7.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:0117-1SUSE-SU-2018:0118-1

  • rsync openSUSE Tumbleweed 3.2.3-2.6

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11308-1

  • rsync Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +15 more 3.1.2-r7
  • rsync Alpine 3.5, Alpine 3.4 3.1.2-r3
  • rsync Alpine 3.6 3.1.2-r6

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2017-16548

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • rsync Arch Linux 3.1.3pre1-1

arch linux advisories AVG-542

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2017-16548 updated cvss 6.5

rsync: Heap-based buffer over-read in receive_xattr function

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 rsync Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 rsync Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 rsync
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

5.78% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.1 9.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness

References

Sources

Fencer Intel keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.