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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2017-6500 Debian CVE debrief

CVE-2017-6500 affects ImageMagick 6.9.7 and is described as a heap-based buffer over-read triggered by a specially crafted sun file. NVD rates it Medium (CVSS 5.5) with local attack requirements and user interaction needed, and the primary impact is availability. If your environment processes untrusted image uploads or includes the affected ImageMagick build, this is worth patching and validating through vendor guidance.

Vendor
Debian
Product
Unknown
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.5
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-03-06
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-03-06
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Security teams, system administrators, and application owners that deploy or embed ImageMagick 6.9.7, especially where image conversion or preview workflows accept untrusted sun files. Debian users should also review the linked vendor and issue-tracker references because NVD lists Debian Linux 8.0 and 9.0 as vulnerable CPEs.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a CWE-125 out-of-bounds read in ImageMagick’s handling of sun files. According to the NVD CVSS vector, exploitation is local, requires low attack complexity, needs no privileges, but does require user interaction. The reported impact is loss of availability rather than direct confidentiality or integrity impact.

Defensive priority

Medium priority. Patch or upgrade promptly if ImageMagick is exposed to user-supplied images or integrated into automated processing pipelines, but this is not marked as a KEV item in the provided corpus.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Upgrade ImageMagick to a version that includes the upstream fix referenced by the linked patch commit.
  • Follow the Debian advisory for package-specific remediation and backport guidance.
  • Restrict or sandbox image-processing workflows that accept untrusted sun files.
  • Add testing for malformed or unexpected image formats in any pipeline that uses ImageMagick.
  • Review dependent applications and services to confirm they are not shipping the affected ImageMagick 6.9.7 build.

Evidence notes

The source corpus identifies CVE-2017-6500 as published on 2017-03-06 and last modified on 2026-05-13. NVD lists ImageMagick 6.9.7 as vulnerable, with additional vulnerable CPEs for Debian Linux 8.0 and 9.0. The supplied CVSS vector is CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H, and the weakness is CWE-125. References include the Debian advisory, Debian bug tracker entry, and the upstream ImageMagick patch and issue threads.

Sources and references

Verified primary and authoritative sources

  • CVE-2017-6500 CVE Program record

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-6500

    CVE Program - Official CVE Program record with source-provided CVE metadata.

  • CVE-2017-6500 NVD vulnerability detail

    Publisher, destination, and source semantics verified

    URL: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-6500

    NIST National Vulnerability Database - Official NIST NVD detail page and source-specific vulnerability assessment.

Supplemental references

Methodology and review provenance

AI-assisted synthesis based on stored public vulnerability evidence. System validation, approval state, and publication status do not by themselves establish human review of this revision. PatchSiren helps prioritize defensive review and does not prove exposure or remediation on any system.