CVE-2017-17517

libsylph/utils.c in Sylpheed through 3.6 does not validate strings before launching the program specified by the BROWSER environment variable, which might allow remote attackers to conduct argument-injection attacks via a crafted URL.

Published: 2017-12-14 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-17517 is rated Moderate Risk (58.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 1.22%). 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-2017-17517

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 0.55% 1.22% +0.68%
2 2025-06-30 0.57% 0.55% -0.03%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.57% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-17517

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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.
 2.8 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-2017-17517

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-17517

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2017-17517 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (sylpheed), 3 status rows across 3 suites (bookworm, bullseye, trixie): open 3. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-17517
ubuntu medium CVE-2017-17517 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (sylpheed), 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): ignored 13, needed 7, DNE 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-17517

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-17517

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
sylpheed_project sylpheed <= 3.6 cpe:2.3:a:sylpheed_project:sylpheed:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-17517

URL Tags
https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-17517 Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence