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Fencer Intel
high 7.3

CVE-2017-6438 json

Heap-based buffer overflow in the parse_unicode_node function in bplist.c in libimobiledevice libplist 1.12 allows local users to cause a d…

published 2017-03-15 9 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-15495

cvss
7.3
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.7%
EPSS 0.7% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 52%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

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.

Patch / fix

  • libplist Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1.12+git+1+e37ca00-0.2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-6438

  • libplist SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES for SAP 12 SP2, SLES for Raspberry Pi 12 SP2 +8 more 1.12-20.3.2

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2017:2201-1

  • libplist Arch Linux 2.0.0-1

arch linux advisories AVG-215

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-2017-6438 updated cvss 3.3

libplist: Heap-based buffer overflow in parse_unicode_node

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 libplist, libplist-python Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 libplist, libplist-python
    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

0.68% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 52% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libplist/issues/98 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.3 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.4 AV:L/AC:M/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.