# CVE-2017-12378: Denial of service in ClamAV AntiVirus software versions 0.99.2 and prior

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service in ClamAV by sending malicious .tar files that trigger a buffer over-read during scanning.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 26 Jan 2018
- **Updated:** 2 Dec 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2017-12378, CLEANSTART-2026-JS06286, DEBIAN-CVE-2017-12378, GHSA-rjvq-jj6m-jqr2, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-12378

## What is CVE-2017-12378?

CVE-2017-12378 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Clamav Clamav, published on 26 Jan 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

ClamAV AntiVirus software versions 0.99.2 and prior contain a vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation checking mechanisms of .tar (Tape Archive) files sent to an affected device. A successful exploit could cause a checksum buffer over-read condition when ClamAV scans the malicious .tar file, potentially allowing the attacker to cause a DoS condition on the affected device.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-12378?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Clamav Clamav, Debian Debian Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-12378?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-12378 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12378 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Clamav Clamav

- [CVE-2010-0098](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-0098/): Security feature bypass in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2009-1372](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2009-1372/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-3914](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-3914/): Denial of service in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2008-0728](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-0728/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 10.0)
- [CVE-2006-1615](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2006-1615/): Other in n/a (critical 10.0)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-12378 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-12378 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Clamav Clamav, published on 26 Jan 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-12378 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Clamav Clamav. 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-2017-12378/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12378/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-12378
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-12378
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-12378

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12378/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.