# CVE-2017-8401: Denial of service in n/a

> Attackers can cause a denial of service in SWFTools by providing a malformed PNG file to the png2swf utility.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 1 May 2017
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-6vjq-p3rw-f392, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-8401

## What is CVE-2017-8401?

CVE-2017-8401 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Swftools Swftools, published on 1 May 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

In SWFTools 0.9.2, an out-of-bounds read of heap data can occur in the function png_load() in lib/png.c:724. This issue can be triggered by a malformed PNG file that is mishandled by png2swf. Attackers could exploit this issue for DoS.

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

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-8401?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Swftools Swftools.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-8401?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-8401 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-8401 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Swftools Swftools

- [CVE-2022-40008](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-40008/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2022-40009](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2022-40009/): Use after free in n/a (critical 9.8)
- [CVE-2010-1516](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2010-1516/): Integer overflow in n/a (critical 9.3)
- [CVE-2024-26339](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-26339/): Memory corruption in n/a (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2024-25165](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2024-25165/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-8401 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-8401 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Swftools Swftools, published on 1 May 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-8401 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Swftools Swftools. 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-2017-8401/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8401/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-8401
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-8401
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-8401

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8401/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.