# CVE-2017-1000408: Denial of service in n/a

> A memory leak in glibc can be amplified via the LD_HWCAP_MASK environment variable, potentially leading to denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 Feb 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-1000408, GHSA-h374-m7g3-c2ww, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-1000408

## What is CVE-2017-1000408?

CVE-2017-1000408 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 1 Feb 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A memory leak in glibc 2.1.1 (released on May 24, 1999) can be reached and amplified through the LD_HWCAP_MASK environment variable. Please note that many versions of glibc are not vulnerable to this issue if patched for CVE-2017-1000366.

Weakness: CWE-772 (Missing Release of Resource after Effective Lifetime)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-1000408?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Glibc.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-1000408?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2017-1000408 being exploited?

It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2017-1000408 exists.

Public exploit code:

- GNU C Library Dynamic Loader glibc ld.so - Memory Leak / Buffer Overflow (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in Gnu Glibc

- [CVE-2026-5450](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-5450/): scanf %mc off-by-one heap buffer overflow (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2023-25139](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-25139/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-1999-0199](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-1999-0199/): Other in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2019-1010022](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-1010022/): Security feature bypass in glibc (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2005-3590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2005-3590/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-1000408 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-1000408 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Gnu Glibc, published on 1 Feb 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: It is not confirmed as exploited in the wild, but public exploit code for CVE-2017-1000408 exists.

Affected product: Gnu Glibc. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1000408/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1000408/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-1000408
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-1000408
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-1000408

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-1000408/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.