CVE-2017-16879

Stack-based buffer overflow in the _nc_write_entry function in tinfo/write_entry.c in ncurses 6.0 allows attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted terminfo file, as demonstrated by tic.

Published: 2017-11-22 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-16879 is rated Moderate Risk (61.7/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.38%). EPSS rose +1.90% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2017-16879

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 2026-06-15 0.49% 2.38% +1.90%
2 2026-05-26 0.44% 0.49% +0.05%
3 2025-07-29 — 0.44% —

Full EPSS history (13 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-16879

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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: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.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-16879

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-16879

vendor priority summary link
alpine — CVE-2017-16879: 1 source package rows (ncurses); 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-2017-16879
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-16879 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ncurses), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-16879
gentoo normal CVE-2017-16879: 1 GLSA(s) (201804-13), 1 atom(s) (sys-libs/ncurses); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2017-16879
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-16879
suse high CVE-2017-16879 severity important: SUSE including 27 source package names (libncurses5, libncurses5-32bit, …), 470 product×package rows across 57 product lines (Magnum Orchestration 7, SUSE Container as a Service Platform 2.0, … (57 product lines)): Known Not Affected 423, Fixed 47. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-16879/
ubuntu negligible CVE-2017-16879 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ncurses), 14 status rows across 14 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, trusty, upstream, xenial, zesty): not-affected 9, released 3, ignored 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-16879

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-16879

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu ncurses 6.0 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:ncurses:6.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-16879

cvelogic Threat Intelligence