CVE-2017-12872

The (1) Htpasswd authentication source in the authcrypt module and (2) SimpleSAML_Session class in SimpleSAMLphp 1.14.11 and earlier allow remote attackers to conduct timing side-channel attacks by leveraging use of the standard comparison operator to compare secret material against user input.

Published: 2017-09-01 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-12872 is rated Moderate Risk (44.5/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.40%). 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-2017-12872

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 2025-06-30 0.54% 0.40% -0.13%
2 2025-03-30 1.04% 0.54% -0.50%
3 2025-03-29 — 1.04% —

Full EPSS history (9 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-12872

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.9 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N 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: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:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 2.2 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-12872

GitHub Security Advisory for CVE-2017-12872

GHSA-v882-949x-6v28 · Severity: medium · Ecosystem: composer — SimpleSAMLphp allows timing side-channel attacks

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-12872

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-12872 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (simplesamlphp), 3 status rows across 3 suites (bookworm, bullseye, sid): resolved 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-12872
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-12872 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (simplesamlphp), 21 status rows across 21 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): not-affected 17, DNE 1, ignored 1, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-12872

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-12872

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
simplesamlphp simplesamlphp <= 1.14.11 cpe:2.3:a:simplesamlphp:simplesamlphp:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-12872

cvelogic Threat Intelligence