CVE-2017-5484 Tcpdump CVE debrief

Who should care

Security teams, network operations staff, and package maintainers who use or distribute tcpdump should care, especially where packet captures from untrusted sources are analyzed. Linux distribution maintainers and anyone embedding tcpdump functionality into tooling should also review their packages.

Technical summary

The vulnerability is a buffer overflow in tcpdump’s ATM parsing code, specifically print-atm.c:sig_print(). The CVE description states the issue affects tcpdump before 4.9.0, and NVD’s vulnerable version range includes tcpdump up to 4.8.1. The recorded weakness is CWE-119, and the CVSS v3.0 vector is AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Defensive priority

Critical. Although this is a parser flaw rather than a protocol service, tcpdump commonly processes attacker-controlled packet data, so vulnerable deployments should be treated as high priority for patching and exposure reduction.

Recommended defensive actions

• Upgrade tcpdump to a fixed release at or beyond 4.9.0, or install the vendor package update provided by your distribution.
• Inventory systems and workflows that parse untrusted packet captures or live traffic with tcpdump.
• Limit use of vulnerable builds to trusted inputs only until patched; avoid analyzing unknown captures on production hosts.
• Run packet-analysis tooling with least privilege and, where possible, isolate it with sandboxing or container controls.
• Check distro security advisories referenced in the CVE record for package-specific remediation guidance.

Evidence notes

The CVE was published on 2017-01-28. The supplied NVD record describes a buffer overflow in print-atm.c:sig_print() and maps the weakness to CWE-119. NVD’s version criteria list tcpdump versions through 4.8.1 as vulnerable, while the description states the issue is present in tcpdump before 4.9.0. The CVSS vector is CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

Official resources