CVE-2017-7186 Explained : Impact and Mitigation

PCRE 8.40 with libpcre1 and PCRE2 10.23 with libpcre2 allow remote attackers to cause a denial of service through an invalid Unicode property lookup.

Understanding CVE-2017-7186

An issue in PCRE versions 8.40 and 10.23 allows attackers to trigger a denial of service by exploiting an invalid Unicode property lookup.

What is CVE-2017-7186?

PCRE 8.40 with libpcre1 and PCRE2 10.23 with libpcre2 are vulnerable to remote attacks that can lead to a denial of service by causing a segmentation violation for read access.

The Impact of CVE-2017-7186

Exploiting this vulnerability can result in crashing the application by triggering an invalid Unicode property lookup, leading to a denial of service.

Technical Details of CVE-2017-7186

PCRE versions 8.40 and 10.23 are affected by this vulnerability.

Vulnerability Description

The issue allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service by triggering an invalid Unicode property lookup, leading to a segmentation violation for read access and application crash.

Affected Systems and Versions

PCRE 8.40 with libpcre1
PCRE2 10.23 with libpcre2

Exploitation Mechanism

Attackers can exploit this vulnerability remotely by triggering an invalid Unicode property lookup, causing a segmentation violation for read access and crashing the application.

Mitigation and Prevention

Immediate action is necessary to address and prevent exploitation of this vulnerability.

Immediate Steps to Take

Apply patches provided by the vendor to mitigate the vulnerability.
Monitor security advisories for any updates related to this issue.

Long-Term Security Practices

Regularly update software and libraries to the latest versions.
Implement network security measures to detect and prevent remote attacks.
Conduct regular security assessments and penetration testing.

Patching and Updates

Update PCRE to the latest versions to patch the vulnerability and prevent exploitation.