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PatchSiren cyber security CVE debrief

CVE-2017-5604 Mcabber CVE debrief

CVE-2017-5604 is a medium-severity integrity issue in mcabber 1.0.0 through 1.0.4. NVD describes it as an incorrect implementation of XEP-0280 Message Carbons that can let a remote attacker impersonate any user, including contacts, in the application's display. The practical risk is deceptive messaging: users may be shown messages that appear to come from a trusted contact or another account, which can support social engineering and other trust-abuse attacks.

Vendor
Mcabber
Product
CVE-2017-5604
CVSS
MEDIUM 5.9
CISA KEV
Not listed in stored evidence
Original CVE published
2017-02-09
Original CVE updated
2026-05-13
Advisory published
2017-02-09
Advisory updated
2026-05-13

Who should care

Anyone running mcabber 1.0.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.2, 1.0.3, or 1.0.4 should care, especially administrators and users who rely on the client to identify message senders accurately. Teams that use XMPP for sensitive internal or external communication should treat this as a trust and impersonation risk.

Technical summary

The NVD record identifies the flaw as an incorrect implementation of XEP-0280 Message Carbons in mcabber. The attacker does not need privileges or user interaction and can act remotely over the network. The primary impact is integrity: the client may display a message as if it were sent by another user or contact. The CVSS vector is CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N, which matches a remote spoofing problem that affects what users see rather than availability or confidentiality.

Defensive priority

Medium. The issue is exploitable remotely and can undermine message authenticity, but the impact is limited to integrity in the published CVSS assessment. Prioritize remediation if the client is used for security-sensitive communication or if users are likely to trust sender identity in the UI.

Recommended defensive actions

  • Apply the vendor patch or upgrade to a mcabber release that includes the fix.
  • Confirm deployed mcabber versions and remove or upgrade any 1.0.0 through 1.0.4 instances.
  • Treat unexpected sender identity changes or message-carried claims as suspicious until the client is patched.
  • Review any workflows that depend on message sender identity for approvals, alerts, or security decisions.
  • Track the official CVE/NVD entries and vendor reference for any updated remediation guidance.

Evidence notes

This debrief is based on the NVD CVE record, which lists mcabber 1.0.0-1.0.4 as vulnerable and describes the issue as an incorrect implementation of XEP-0280 Message Carbons that can enable impersonation in the display. The record also provides the CVSS vector CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N and cites a vendor patch reference at mcabber.com, along with a technical advisory reference and the official CVE/NVD records. No exploit steps are included here.

Official resources

Published by NVD on 2017-02-09T20:59:00.450Z; the record was last modified on 2026-05-13T00:24:29.033Z.