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Fencer Intel
high 7.8

CVE-2017-7501 json

It was found that versions of rpm before 4.13.0.2 use temporary files with predictable names when installing an RPM.

published 2017-11-22 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-16518

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
0.4%
EPSS 0.4% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 33%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

It was found that versions of rpm before 4.13.0.2 use temporary files with predictable names when installing an RPM. An attacker with ability to write in a directory where files will be installed could create symbolic links to an arbitrary location and modify content, and possibly permissions to arbitrary files, which could be used for denial of service or possibly privilege escalation.

Patch / fix

  • rpm rpm 4.13.0.3
  • rpm SLES 12 SP4, SLES 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP2-BCL +13 more 4.11.2-16.21.1
  • rpm-python SLES 12 SP4, SLES 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP2-BCL +11 more 4.11.2-16.21.1
  • python3-rpm SLES 12 SP4, SLES 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP2-BCL +10 more 4.11.2-16.21.1
  • rpm SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3, SLED 12 SP3 +1 more 4.11.2-16.16.1
  • rpm-python SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3, SLED 12 SP3 4.11.2-16.16.1
  • python3-rpm SLES for SAP 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP3 4.11.2-16.16.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:3884-2SUSE-SU-2018:3884-1SUSE-SU-2018:3286-1

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-2017-7501 updated cvss 7.3

rpm: Following symlinks to files when installing packages allows privilege escalation

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 rpm Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 rpm, rpm-cron, rpm-libs, rpm-build, rpm-python, rpm-apidocs Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 rpm, rpm-cron, rpm-libs, rpm-sign, rpm-build, rpm-python, +3 more
    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

0.39% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 33% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-09).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 4.6 AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Affected products

  • Red Hat, Inc. rpm

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-59 Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

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.