CVE-2017-12164

A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.

Published: 2018-07-26 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-12164 is rated Low Risk (27.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.12%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2017-12164

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 2025-06-19 0.04% 0.12% +0.08%
2 2025-03-30 0.09% 0.04% -0.05%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.09% —

Full EPSS history (7 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-12164

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
4.1 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:P)
Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:L)
Attackers could change some data, but it’s limited—not everything goes.
Availability (A:L)
Might cause slowdowns, glitches, or partial disruption—not a full brick.
 0.7 3.4 [email protected]
6.4 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:P)
Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
Attack complexity (AC:H)
Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 0.5 5.9 [email protected]
6.9 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 3.4 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-12164

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-12164

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-12164 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (gdm3), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-12164
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-12164
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-12164 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (gdm3), 5 status rows across 5 suites (artful, trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): released 2, DNE 1, needs-triage 1, not-affected 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-12164

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-12164

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnome gnome_display_manager 3.24.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnome:gnome_display_manager:3.24.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-12164

URL Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=CVE-2017-12164 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gdm/commit/ff98b28 Patch Vendor Advisory
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