Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2017-8923

critical Nessus Plugin ID 221240

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 zend_string_extend function in Zend/zend_string.h in PHP through 7.1.5 does not prevent changes to string objects that result in a negative length, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact by leveraging a script's use of .= with a long string. (CVE-2017-8923)

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-2017-8923

https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-8923

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 221240

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2017_8923.nasl

Version: 1.2

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 3/4/2025

Updated: 8/20/2025

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 6.7

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 5.9

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2017-8923

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 8.8

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

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

Vulnerability Information

CPE: p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-xmlrpc, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-mbstring, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-ldap, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-bcmath, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-embedded, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-soap, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-fpm, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-xmlrpc, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-xml, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-mbstring, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-odbc, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-pdo, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-common, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-intl, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-soap, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-cli, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-dba, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-process, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-intl, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-mysqlnd, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-fpm, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-pdo, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-common, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-enchant, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-pgsql, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-process, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-bcmath, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:php5, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-dba, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-gd, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-cli, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-devel, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-enchant, cpe:/o:centos:centos:8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-recode, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-embedded, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-xml, cpe:/o:redhat:enterprise_linux:8, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-devel, cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-pgsql, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-recode, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-gd, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-mysqlnd, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-ldap, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-snmp, p-cpe:/a:centos:centos:php-snmp, p-cpe:/a:redhat:enterprise_linux:php-odbc

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: 5/12/2017

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2017-8923