High severity7.8NVD Advisory· Published Dec 18, 2017· Updated May 13, 2026
CVE-2017-16997
CVE-2017-16997
Description
elf/dl-load.c in the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) 2.19 through 2.26 mishandles RPATH and RUNPATH containing $ORIGIN for a privileged (setuid or AT_SECURE) program, which allows local users to gain privileges via a Trojan horse library in the current working directory, related to the fillin_rpath and decompose_rpath functions. This is associated with misinterpretion of an empty RPATH/RUNPATH token as the "./" directory. NOTE: this configuration of RPATH/RUNPATH for a privileged program is apparently very uncommon; most likely, no such program is shipped with any common Linux distribution.
Patches
0No patches discovered yet.
Vulnerability mechanics
AI mechanics synthesis has not run for this CVE yet.
References
4- bugs.debian.org/884615nvdIssue TrackingMailing ListPatchThird Party Advisory
- www.securityfocus.com/bid/102228nvdThird Party AdvisoryVDB Entry
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHBA-2019:0327nvdThird Party Advisory
- access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3092nvdThird Party Advisory
News mentions
0No linked articles in our index yet.