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CVE-2017-12990

25
FAUCET Score

CVE-2017-12990 describes an infinite loop vulnerability in the ISAKMP parser of tcpdump versions prior to 4.9.2, specifically impacting the print-isakmp.c functions. This high-severity vulnerability (CVSS 7.5) can be exploited remotely with low attack complexity, leading to denial of service. While there is no known active exploitation or public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), the vulnerability has garnered significant community discussion and media attention, indicating awareness. It is not listed on the KEV catalog.

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
2.55%
Probability of exploitation in next 30 days
EPSS Percentile
83.4%
Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group
As of 2026-07-28
Model: v2026.06.15
This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0255 is in the 70th 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 5Fixed in: tcpdump
redhatend of lifevia redhat_api
Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: tcpdump

Vendor Advisories (1)

redhatCVE-2017-12990Low

tcpdump: Infinite loop due to bugs in print-isakmp.c, several functions in ISAKMP parser

Sep 13, 2017

References

access.redhat.com / errata/RHEA-2018:0705
github.com / the-tcpdump-group/tcpdump/commit/c2ef693866beae071a24b45c49f9674af1df4028
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