# CVE-2017-7523: Memory corruption in cygwin

> Buffer overflow in Cygwin allows attackers to crash processes or execute code with administrative privileges via crafted input.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/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:** 21 Jul 2017
- **Updated:** 16 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-vhqx-rr9r-7jww

## What is CVE-2017-7523?

CVE-2017-7523 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat, Inc. cygwin, published on 21 Jul 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

Cygwin versions 1.7.2 up to and including 1.8.0 are vulnerable to buffer overflow vulnerability in wcsxfrm/wcsxfrm_l functions resulting into denial-of-service by crashing the process or potential hijack of the process running with administrative privileges triggered by specially crafted input string.

Weakness: CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer), CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-7523?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Cygwin Cygwin.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-7523?

No fix has been published for CVE-2017-7523 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2017-7523 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-7523 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Red Hat, Inc. cygwin

- [CVE-2016-3067](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2016-3067/): Privilege escalation in n/a (critical 9.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-7523 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-7523 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Red Hat, Inc. cygwin, published on 21 Jul 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-2017-7523 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Red Hat, Inc. cygwin. 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-2017-7523/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7523/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-7523
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-7523
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-7523

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7523/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.