# CVE-2017-10972: Information disclosure in n/a

> Authenticated attackers can read privileged data from the X server due to uninitialized memory in endianness conversion.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Any signed-in user
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 6 Jul 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-10972, GHSA-2fw8-6c95-mmp8, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-10972

## What is CVE-2017-10972?

CVE-2017-10972 is a medium-severity vulnerability in X.org X Server, published on 6 Jul 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Uninitialized data in endianness conversion in the XEvent handling of the X.Org X Server before 2017-06-19 allowed authenticated malicious users to access potentially privileged data from the X server.

Weakness: CWE-665 (Improper Initialization)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-10972?

It affects 1 product.


Products: X.org X Server.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-10972?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2017-10972 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-10972 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in X.org X Server

- [CVE-2026-56000](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-56000/): xorg-x11-server / xwayland GLX contextTags Use-After-Free in CommonMakeCurrent() (critical 9.0)
- [CVE-2017-10971](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10971/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2026-55999](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-55999/): xorg-server / xwayland glamor font atlas Heap Buffer Overflow (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2022-2319](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2319/): Memory corruption in xorg-x11-server (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2022-2320](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-2320/): Memory corruption in xorg-x11-server (high 7.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-10972 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-10972 is a medium-severity vulnerability in X.org X Server, published on 6 Jul 2017. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-10972 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: X.org X Server. 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-2017-10972/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10972/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-10972
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-10972
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-10972

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-10972/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.