CVE-2017-11164

In PCRE 8.41, the OP_KETRMAX feature in the match function in pcre_exec.c allows stack exhaustion (uncontrolled recursion) when processing a crafted regular expression.

Published: 2017-07-11 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-11164 is rated Moderate Risk (40.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.11%). Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2017-11164

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-01-17 0.27% 0.11% -0.17%
2 2025-09-15 0.21% 0.27% +0.06%
3 2025-08-21 — 0.21% —

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-11164

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
7.8 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 10.0 6.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-11164

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-11164

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2017-11164: 1 source package rows (pcre); 10 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2017-11164
debian unimportant CVE-2017-11164 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (pcre3), 2 status rows across 2 suites (bookworm, bullseye): open 2. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-11164
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-11164
suse low — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-11164/
ubuntu negligible CVE-2017-11164 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (pcre3), 22 status rows across 22 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): ignored 15, needed 7. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-11164

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-11164

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
pcre pcre 8.41 cpe:2.3:a:pcre:pcre:8.41:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-11164

cvelogic Threat Intelligence