CVE-2017-5836

The plist_free_data function in plist.c in libplist allows attackers to cause a denial of service (crash) via vectors involving an integer node that is treated as a PLIST_KEY and then triggers an invalid free.

Published: 2017-03-03 Last update: 2026-05-13 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2017-5836 is rated Moderate Risk (61.7/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.66%). EPSS rose +2.38% 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-2017-5836

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 0.27% 2.66% +2.38%
2 2026-05-08 0.45% 0.27% -0.17%
3 2025-11-21 — 0.45% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2017-5836

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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: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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2017-5836

OS Trackers for CVE-2017-5836

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2017-5836 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (libplist), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-5836
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-5836
suse low CVE-2017-5836 severity low: SUSE including 22 source package names (libplist++-2_0-4-2.6.0-160000.2.2, libplist++-devel-1.12-19.1, …), 84 product×package rows across 37 product lines (SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP1, SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 12 SP2, … (37 product lines)): Fixed 84. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2017-5836/
ubuntu low CVE-2017-5836 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libplist), 23 status rows across 23 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, precise, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial, yakkety, zesty): not-affected 17, ignored 3, DNE 1, needed 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-5836

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2017-5836

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libimobiledevice libplist — cpe:2.3:a:libimobiledevice:libplist:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2017-5836

URL Tags
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/01/31/6 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2017/02/02/4 Mailing List Patch Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96022
https://github.com/libimobiledevice/libplist/issues/86 Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence