CVE-2017-3226 | Das U-Boot's AES-CBC encryption feature improperly handles an error condition and may allow attacks against the underlying cryptographic implementation and allow an attacker to decrypt the data

Das U-Boot is a device bootloader that can read its configuration from an AES encrypted file. Devices that make use of Das U-Boot's AES-CBC encryption feature using environment encryption (i.e., setting the configuration parameter CONFIG_ENV_AES=y) read environment variables from disk as the encrypted disk image is processed. An attacker with physical access to the device can manipulate the encrypted environment data to include a crafted two-byte sequence which triggers an error in environment variable parsing. This error condition is improperly handled by Das U-Boot, resulting in an immediate process termination with a debugging message.

Published: 2018-07-24 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2017-3226 is rated Low Risk (28.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.04%). Mandatory action: 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-2017-3226

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 2025-03-17 0.45% 0.04% -0.41%
2 2024-12-17 0.08% 0.45% +0.37%
3 2023-03-07 0.08%

Full EPSS history (5 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-3226

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
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]
4.4 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P 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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
3.4 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-3226

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-3226

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2017-3226 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (u-boot), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): open 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-3226
ubuntu negligible CVE-2017-3226 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (u-boot), 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 13, ignored 5, DNE 1, needed 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-3226

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-3226

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
denx u-boot < 2017.09 cpe:2.3:a:denx:u-boot:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-3226

URL Tags
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/100675 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/166743 Third Party Advisory US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence