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CVE-2017-12899

30
FAUCET Score

CVE-2017-12899 describes a critical buffer over-read vulnerability in the DECnet parser of tcpdump versions prior to 4.9.2, impacting Debian and Red Hat distributions. This flaw, rated 9.8 CRITICAL, allows an unauthenticated attacker to remotely execute arbitrary code or cause a denial of service with low attack complexity, leading to high confidentiality, integrity, and availability impacts. While no public exploits or Metasploit modules exist, and it's not in the KEV catalog, the vulnerability has garnered some community discussion and media coverage, indicating awareness despite its inactive status on hot lists.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
<= 4.9.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:tcpdump:tcpdump:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
9.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
10.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
7.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
7.0CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.1

9.8CRITICAL

CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
HIGH
Integrity Impact
HIGH
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
5.9
CvssVersion
3.1

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
3.28%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
87.2%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-27
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0328 is in the 79th percentile among its peer group of 36,897 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.1 Reddit, 0.3 Bluesky, 0.3 Mastodon, and 2.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.3 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (4)

github_advisorypatch availablevia nvd_reference
View patch
redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: tcpdump-14:4.9.2-3.el7
View patch
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: tcpdump
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: tcpdump

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2017-12899Low

tcpdump: Buffer over-read in print-decnet.c:decnet_print() in DECnet parser

Sep 13, 2017

References

access.redhat.com / errata/RHEA-2018:0705
Third Party Advisory
github.com / the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump/commit/c6e0531b5def26ecf912e8de6ade86cbdaed3751
Issue TrackingPatchThird Party Advisory
github.com / the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump/commit/f96003b21e2abfbba59b926b10a7f9bc7d11e36c
Issue TrackingThird Party Advisory
security.gentoo.org / glsa/201709-23
Third Party Advisory
support.apple.com / HT208221
Third Party Advisory
debian.org / security/2017/dsa-3971
Third Party Advisory
securitytracker.com / id/1039307
Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
tcpdump.org / tcpdump-changes.txt
Vendor Advisory