Apple macOS up to 10.13.1 tcpdump memory corruption

CVSS Meta Temp Score CVSS is a standardized scoring system to determine possibilities of attacks. The Temp Score considers temporal factors like disclosure, exploit and countermeasures. The unique Meta Score calculates the average score of different sources to provide a normalized scoring system.	Current Exploit Price (≈) Our analysts are monitoring exploit markets and are in contact with vulnerability brokers. The range indicates the observed or calculated exploit price to be seen on exploit markets. A good indicator to understand the monetary effort required for and the popularity of an attack.	CTI Interest Score Our Cyber Threat Intelligence team is monitoring different web sites, mailing lists, exploit markets and social media networks. The CTI Interest Score identifies the interest of attackers and the security community for this specific vulnerability in real-time. A high score indicates an elevated risk to be targeted for this vulnerability.
9.6	$0-$5k	0.00

Summaryinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as critical, was found in Apple macOS up to 10.13.1. This issue affects some unknown processing of the component tcpdump. Such manipulation leads to memory corruption. This vulnerability is uniquely identified as CVE-2017-12899. The attack can be launched remotely. No exploit exists. You should upgrade the affected component.

Detailsinfo

A vulnerability, which was classified as very critical, has been found in Apple macOS up to 10.13.1 (Operating System). Affected by this issue is some unknown functionality of the component tcpdump. The manipulation with an unknown input leads to a memory corruption vulnerability. Using CWE to declare the problem leads to CWE-119. The product performs operations on a memory buffer, but it can read from or write to a memory location that is outside of the intended boundary of the buffer. Impacted is confidentiality, integrity, and availability. CVE summarizes:

The DECnet parser in tcpdump before 4.9.2 has a buffer over-read in print-decnet.c:decnet_print().

The bug was discovered 09/11/2017. The weakness was disclosed 10/31/2017 as HT208221 as confirmed advisory (Website). The advisory is shared for download at support.apple.com. This vulnerability is handled as CVE-2017-12899 since 08/17/2017. The exploitation is known to be easy. The attack may be launched remotely. No form of authentication is required for exploitation. There are neither technical details nor an exploit publicly available. The current price for an exploit might be approx. USD $0-$5k (estimation calculated on 12/04/2025). It is expected to see the exploit prices for this product increasing in the near future. The advisory points out:

Multiple issues were addressed by updating to version 4.9.2.

The vulnerability scanner Nessus provides a plugin with the ID 100472 (AIX 5.3 TL 12 : tcpdump (IV94729)), which helps to determine the existence of the flaw in a target environment. It is assigned to the family AIX Local Security Checks and running in the context l. The commercial vulnerability scanner Qualys is able to test this issue with plugin 176147 (Debian Security Update for tcpdump (DSA 3971-1)).

Upgrading to version 10.13.1 eliminates this vulnerability. A possible mitigation has been published immediately after the disclosure of the vulnerability.

The vulnerability is also documented in the vulnerability database at Tenable (100472). The entries VDB-21822, VDB-21823, VDB-104406 and VDB-104407 are pretty similar. VulDB is the best source for vulnerability data and more expert information about this specific topic.

Productinfo

Type

Operating System

Vendor

Apple

Name

macOS

Version

License

commercial

Website

Vendor: https://www.apple.com/

CPE 2.3info

CPE 2.2info

CVSSv4info

VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

CVSSv3info

VulDB Meta Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Meta Temp Score: 9.6

VulDB Base Score: 9.8
VulDB Temp Score: 9.4
VulDB Vector: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 9.8
NVD Vector: 🔍

CVSSv2info

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Vector	Complexity	Authentication	Confidentiality	Integrity	Availability
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VulDB Base Score: 🔍
VulDB Temp Score: 🔍
VulDB Reliability: 🔍

NVD Base Score: 🔍

Exploitinginfo

Class: Memory corruption
CWE: CWE-119
CAPEC: 🔍
ATT&CK: 🔍

Physical: No
Local: No
Remote: Yes

Availability: 🔍
Status: Not defined

EPSS Score: 🔍
EPSS Percentile: 🔍

Price Prediction: 🔍
Current Price Estimation: 🔍

0-Day	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock	Unlock
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Nessus ID: 100472
Nessus Name: AIX 5.3 TL 12 : tcpdump (IV94729)
Nessus File: 🔍
Nessus Risk: 🔍
Nessus Family: 🔍
Nessus Context: 🔍

OpenVAS ID: 53377
OpenVAS Name: Debian Security Advisory DSA 3971-1 (tcpdump - security update)
OpenVAS File: 🔍
OpenVAS Family: 🔍

Qualys ID: 🔍
Qualys Name: 🔍

Threat Intelligenceinfo

Interest: 🔍
Active Actors: 🔍
Active APT Groups: 🔍

Countermeasuresinfo

Recommended: Upgrade
Status: 🔍

Reaction Time: 🔍
0-Day Time: 🔍
Exposure Time: 🔍

Upgrade: macOS 10.13.1
Patch: github.com

Timelineinfo

05/30/2017 🔍
08/17/2017 +79 days 🔍
09/11/2017 +25 days 🔍
09/14/2017 +3 days 🔍
10/31/2017 +47 days 🔍
10/31/2017 +0 days 🔍
11/03/2017 +3 days 🔍
12/04/2025 +2953 days 🔍