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CVE-2017-12989

23
FAUCET Score

CVE-2017-12989 describes an infinite loop vulnerability in the RESP parser of tcpdump versions prior to 4.9.2, specifically within the print-resp.c:resp_get_length() function. This flaw carries a CVSS v3 score of 7.5 (High), indicating it can be exploited remotely with low attack complexity, requiring no user interaction, and leading to high availability impact (denial of service). While the vulnerability has a low EPSS score and is not listed in CISA's KEV catalog, there is no public exploit code available (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), and community discussion and media coverage are minimal, suggesting limited active exploitation.

Impacted Technologies

VendorProductVersion(s)CPE
<= 4.9.1CPE matchmatch criteria
cpe:2.3:a:tcpdump:tcpdump:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

7.5HIGH

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

Attack Vector
NETWORK
Attack Complexity
LOW
Privileges Required
NONE
User Interaction
NONE
Scope
UNCHANGED
Confidentiality Impact
NONE
Integrity Impact
NONE
Availability Impact
HIGH
Exploitability Score
3.9
Impact Score
3.6
CvssVersion
3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score
2.31%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
81.6%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-28
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0231 is in the 67th percentile among its peer group of 51,553 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 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 6Fixed in: tcpdump
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: tcpdump

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2017-12989Low

tcpdump: Infinite loop due to a bug in print-resp.c:resp_get_length() in RESP parser

Sep 13, 2017

References

access.redhat.com / errata/RHEA-2018:0705
github.com / the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump/commit/db24063b01cba8e9d4d88b7d8ac70c9000c104e4
Issue TrackingPatchThird Party Advisory
security.gentoo.org / glsa/201709-23
support.apple.com / HT208221
debian.org / security/2017/dsa-3971
securitytracker.com / id/1039307
tcpdump.org / tcpdump-changes.txt
Vendor Advisory