# CVE-2017-3897: Code injection in Live Safe

> Network attackers can execute malicious code via HTTP responses in McAfee Live Safe and Security Scan Plus due to a code injection flaw in authentication.

- **Severity:** Critical 9.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 1 Sep 2017
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-872r-73c4-2f6m

## What is CVE-2017-3897?

CVE-2017-3897 is a critical code injection vulnerability in McAfee Live Safe, published on 1 Sep 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A Code Injection vulnerability in the non-certificate-based authentication mechanism in McAfee Live Safe versions prior to 16.0.3 and McAfee Security Scan Plus (MSS+) versions prior to 3.11.599.3 allows network attackers to perform a malicious file execution via a HTTP backend-response.

Weakness: CWE-94 (Improper Control of Generation of Code)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-3897?

It affects 2 products.


Products: Mcafee Livesafe, Mcafee Security Scan Plus.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-3897?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-3897 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-3897 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-3897 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- McAfee Security Scan Plus - Remote Command Execution (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in McAfee Live Safe

- [CVE-2016-4535](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-4535/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2017-3898](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3898/): Security feature bypass in Live Safe (medium 5.9)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-3897 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-3897 is a critical code injection vulnerability in McAfee Live Safe, published on 1 Sep 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-3897 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: McAfee Live Safe. 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-2017-3897/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3897/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-3897
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-3897
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-3897

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-3897/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.