# CVE-2017-11171: Denial of service in n/a

> A local attacker can exhaust file descriptors via invalid ICE connections, causing the GNOME session manager to enter an infinite loop and hang the graphical session.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 11 Jul 2017
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-11171, GHSA-9rpj-3fh9-94x5, SUSE-SU-2017:2173-1

## What is CVE-2017-11171?

CVE-2017-11171 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Jul 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Bad reference counting in the context of accept_ice_connection() in gsm-xsmp-server.c in old versions of gnome-session up until version 2.29.92 allows a local attacker to establish ICE connections to gnome-session with invalid authentication data (an invalid magic cookie). Each failed authentication attempt will leak a file descriptor in gnome-session. When the maximum number of file descriptors is exhausted in the gnome-session process, it will enter an infinite loop trying to communicate without success, consuming 100% of the CPU. The graphical session associated with the gnome-session process will stop working correctly, because communication with gnome-session is no longer possible.

Weakness: CWE-835 (Loop with Unreachable Exit Condition)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-11171?

It affects 1 product.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `gnome-session` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4 | All versions | 2.28.0-3.11.12.2 |
| `gnome-session` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4 | All versions | 2.28.0-3.11.12.2 |

Products: Gnome Gnome-Session.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-11171?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-11171 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-11171 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-11171 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-11171 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 11 Jul 2017. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-11171 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2017-11171/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11171/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-11171
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-11171
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-11171

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-11171/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.