# CVE-2017-9438: Denial of service in n/a

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service via stack consumption in YARA by submitting crafted rules with hex strings.

- **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:** Yes
- **Published:** 5 Jun 2017
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2017-9438, GHSA-24f8-4r56-7793, UBUNTU-CVE-2017-9438

## What is CVE-2017-9438?

CVE-2017-9438 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 5 Jun 2017. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

libyara/re.c in the regexp module in YARA 3.5.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (stack consumption) via a crafted rule (involving hex strings) that is mishandled in the _yr_re_emit function, a different vulnerability than CVE-2017-9304.

Weakness: CWE-674 (Uncontrolled Recursion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2017-9438?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Virustotal Yara.

## How do I fix CVE-2017-9438?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2017-9438 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2017-9438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2023-40857](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-40857/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-12034](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12034/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2018-12035](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12035/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2017-9304](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9304/): Denial of service in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2017-8929](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-8929/): Use after free in n/a (high 7.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2017-9438 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2017-9438 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in n/a, published on 5 Jun 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-2017-9438 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2017-9438/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9438/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2017-9438
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2017-9438
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-9438

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-9438/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.