# CVE-2017-2740: Privilege escalation in HP ThinPro

> Local attackers can elevate privileges on HP ThinPro thin clients via the command line shell, requiring vendor patches.

- **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:** No
- **Published:** 23 Jan 2018
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-j663-vxcp-w98m

## What is CVE-2017-2740?

CVE-2017-2740 is a high-severity vulnerability in HP ThinPro, published on 23 Jan 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A potential security vulnerability has been identified with the command line shell of the HP ThinPro operating system 6.1, 5.2.1, 5.2, 5.1, 5.0, and 4.4. The vulnerability could result in a local unauthorized elevation of privilege on an HP thin client device.

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-2740?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Hp Thinpro.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-2740?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-2740 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-2740 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-2740 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in HP ThinPro

- [CVE-2025-43017](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2025-43017/): HP ThinPro 8.1 SP8 Security Updates (high 8.5)
- [CVE-2019-18909](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-18909/): Command injection in ThinPro Linux (high 8.0)
- [CVE-2016-2246](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-2246/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-16287](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16287/): Privilege escalation in ThinPro Linux (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2019-18910](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-18910/): Command injection in ThinPro Linux (medium 6.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-2740 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-2740 is a high-severity vulnerability in HP ThinPro, published on 23 Jan 2018. 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-2017-2740 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: HP ThinPro. 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-2017-2740/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-2740/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-2740
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-2740
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-2740

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-2740/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.