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Fencer Vulns
high 8.8

CVE-2017-16544 json

In the add_match function in libbb/lineedit.c in BusyBox through 1.27.2, the tab autocomplete feature of the shell, used to get a list of f…

published 2017-11-20 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2017-7737

cvss
8.8
version 3.1, CNA
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
6.1%
EPSS 6.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 93%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

In the add_match function in libbb/lineedit.c in BusyBox through 1.27.2, the tab autocomplete feature of the shell, used to get a list of filenames in a directory, does not sanitize filenames and results in executing any escape sequence in the terminal. This could potentially result in code execution, arbitrary file writes, or other attacks.

Patch / fix

  • busybox Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 1:1.27.2-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2017-16544

  • busybox Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 1:1.21.0-1ubuntu1.4
  • busybox Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 1:1.22.0-15ubuntu1.4
  • busybox Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 1:1.27.2-1ubuntu4

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2017-16544

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • busybox SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES for SAP 12 SP4, SLES 12 SP5 +5 more 1.35.0-4.3.1
  • busybox SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP4, openSUSE Leap 15.4 1.35.0-150400.3.3.1
  • busybox SLES 15 SP2-BCL, SLES 15 SP1-BCL, SLE Real Time 15 SP2 +18 more 1.34.1-4.9.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2022:4253-1SUSE-SU-2022:3959-1SUSE-SU-2022:0135-2SUSE-SU-2022:0135-1

  • busybox openSUSE Tumbleweed 1.35.0-1.1
  • busybox openSUSE Leap 15.3 1.34.1-4.9.1
  • virtualbox openSUSE Leap 15.3 6.1.34-lp153.2.27.2
  • virtualbox-kmp openSUSE Leap 15.3 6.1.34-lp153.2.27.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11738-1openSUSE-SU-2022:0135-1

  • busybox Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +15 more 1.27.2-r4
  • busybox Alpine 3.3 1.24.2-r2
  • busybox Alpine 3.4 1.24.2-r13
  • busybox Alpine 3.5 1.25.1-r1
  • busybox Alpine 3.6 1.26.2-r9

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2017-16544

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • busybox Arch Linux 1.28.1-1
  • mkinitcpio-busybox Arch Linux 1.28.1-1

arch linux advisories AVG-512AVG-514

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2017-16544 updated cvss 4.8

busybox: Insufficient sanitization of filenames when autocompleting

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 busybox Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 busybox, busybox-petitboot
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

cisa ICSA-20-240-01 updated cvss 8.8

Red Lion N-Tron 702-W, 702M12-W

  • Red Lion, AutomationDirect N-Tron 702-W Red Lion, AutomationDirect N-Tron 702M12-W
    affected: mitigation “Red Lion's 702-W Series was discontinued in 2018 and cannot be updated. Red Lion recommends these products be used locally within a secure network.”

From CISA ICS and IT advisories (CSAF, https://github.com/cisagov/CSAF), a U.S. Government work; changed: reduced to products, statuses and remediations. CISA notification · csaf

CISA SSVC

Exploitation
none
Automatable
no
Technical impact
total
Assessed
17 mo ago

Exploit prediction

6.14% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Jun/18 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Jun/14 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2019/Sep/7 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org https://seclists.org/bugtraq/2019/Sep/7 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • packetstormsecurity.com http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154361/Cisco-Device-Hardcoded-Credentials-GNU-glibc-BusyBox.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • packetstormsecurity.com http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/154536/VMware-Security-Advisory-2019-0013.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Mar/15 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Aug/20 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2020/Sep/6 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2021/Jan/39 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2021/Aug/21 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • seclists.org http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2022/Jun/36 referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • packetstormsecurity.com http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/167552/Nexans-FTTO-GigaSwitch-Outdated-Components-Hardcoded-Backdoor.html referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
CISA ADP 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
CNA 3.1 8.8 CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-94 Improper Control of Generation of Code
Technology feeds

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.