TeX Live through 20170524 does not validate strings before launching the program…
Key facts
- Attack vector
- Network
- Privileges required
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Attack complexity
- Low
- Impact type
- —
- Confidentiality · integrity · availability
- High · High · High
- Fix status
- No fix listed
Attack profile from CVSS 3.0 · NVD. Fix status from CNA and Red Hat.
Summary
TeX Live through 20170524 does not validate strings before launching the program specified by the BROWSER environment variable, which might allow remote attackers to conduct argument-injection attacks via a crafted URL, related to linked_scripts/context/stubs/unix/mtxrun, texmf-dist/scripts/context/stubs/mswin/mtxrun.lua, and texmf-dist/tex/luatex/lualibs/lualibs-os.lua.
Why it matters now
SSVC decision points
Not available: CISA has not published SSVC decision points for this record.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected versions | Fixed in | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | all versions | — | No fix listed | CNA |
- — Vendor— Affected all versions Fixed in — No fix listed CNA
Remediation
No fixed version listed by the sources yet.
Vendor assessments
Red Hat
Red Hat rating: Moderate. Red Hat's page for this CVE →
| Product | Status | Plan or fix |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 | Affected | No fix yet |
Not affected: 3 products
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8
Timeline
- 2026-10-02 Threatist record created from CVE-2017-17513
- 2026-10-03 Alias added: GHSA-5fq9-qwgg-j7pg
References
More Tug Tex Live vulnerabilities
- TI-2023-15976 LuaTeX before 1.17.0 allows execution of arbitrary shell commands when compiling a TeX… CVSS 3.1HIGH 8.8
- TI-2016-08317 TeX Live allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary commands by leveraging inclusion of… CVSS 3.0CRITICAL 9.8
- TI-2018-12402 An issue was discovered in t1_check_unusual_charstring functions in writet1.c files in… CVSS 3.0HIGH 7.8
- TI-2010-00706 Integer overflow in the predospecial function in dospecial.c in dvips in (1) TeX Live and… CVSS 2.0MEDIUM 6.8
- TI-2010-00788 Integer overflow in dvips in TeX Live 2009 and earlier, and teTeX, allows remote… CVSS 2.0MEDIUM 6.8
- TI-2010-01394 Multiple integer overflows in dvipsk/dospecial.c in dvips in TeX Live 2009 and earlier… CVSS 2.0MEDIUM 6.8
Sources
- CVE-2017-17513 · CVE Program
- CVE-2017-17513 · NVD
- FIRST EPSS
- GHSA-5fq9-qwgg-j7pg · GitHub Advisory Database · CC BY 4.0
- CVE-2017-17513 · Red Hat security data · CC BY 4.0
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