Linux Distros Unpatched Vulnerability : CVE-2017-12621

critical Nessus Plugin ID 260847

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.

- During Jelly (xml) file parsing with Apache Xerces, if a custom doctype entity is declared with a SYSTEM entity with a URL and that entity is used in the body of the Jelly file, during parser instantiation the parser will attempt to connect to said URL. This could lead to XML External Entity (XXE) attacks in Apache Commons Jelly before 1.0.1. (CVE-2017-12621)

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://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2017-12621

Plugin Details

Severity: Critical

ID: 260847

File Name: unpatched_CVE_2017_12621.nasl

Version: 1.1

Type: local

Agent: unix

Family: Misc.

Published: 9/3/2025

Updated: 9/3/2025

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

Risk Information

VPR

Risk Factor: Medium

Score: 5.9

CVSS v2

Risk Factor: High

Base Score: 7.5

Temporal Score: 5.5

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

CVSS Score Source: CVE-2017-12621

CVSS v3

Risk Factor: Critical

Base Score: 9.8

Temporal Score: 8.5

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:U/RL:O/RC:C

Vulnerability Information

CPE: cpe:/o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:-:lts, p-cpe:/a:canonical:ubuntu_linux:jenkins-commons-jelly

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

Exploit Ease: No known exploits are available

Vulnerability Publication Date: 9/25/2017

Reference Information

CVE: CVE-2017-12621