Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2017-17689

medium Nessus Plugin ID 220871

Synopsis

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed with a vulnerability that the vendor indicates will not be patched.

Description

The Linux/Unix host has one or more packages installed that are impacted by a vulnerability without a vendor supplied patch available.

- The S/MIME specification allows a Cipher Block Chaining (CBC) malleability-gadget attack that can indirectly lead to plaintext exfiltration, aka EFAIL. (CVE-2017-17689)

Note that Nessus relies on the presence of the package as reported by the vendor.

Solution

There is no known solution at this time.

See Also

https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2017-17689

https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-17689

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-17689

Plugin Details

Severity: Medium

ID: 220871

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2017_17689.nasl

Version: 1.3

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 8/10/2025

Supported Sensors: Agentless Assessment, Frictionless Assessment Agent, Frictionless Assessment AWS, Frictionless Assessment Azure, Nessus Agent, Nessus

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 4.4

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 4.3

Temporal Score: 3.4

Vector: CVSS2#AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2017-17689

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Medium

Base Score: 5.9

Temporal Score: 5.3

Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N

Temporal Vector: CVSS:3.0/E:P/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:11.0, cpe:/o:centos:centos:7, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:kf5-messagelib, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:kdepim, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:13.0, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:7, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:debian:debian_linux:evolution, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:kmail, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:kdepim, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:kdepim, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:6, cpe:/o:debian:debian_linux:12.0

Required KB Items: Host/OS/identifier, Host/cpu, Host/local_checks_enabled, global_settings/vendor_unpatched

Exploit Available: true

Exploit Ease: Exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 5/14/2018

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2017-17689