Medium
Security advisory
In libXfont before 1.5.4 and libXfont2 before 2.0.3, a local attacker can open (but not read) files on the system as root, triggering tape rewinds, watchdogs, or similar mechanisms that can be triggered by opening files.
- Products
- Not specified
- Affected versions
- Not specified
- Fixed versions
- Not specified
- CVEs
- CVE-2017-16611
- Confirmed fixed CVEs
- Not specified
- Updated in this feed
- 1 Nov 2026, 05:24 UTC · Revision 1
Source evidence
In libXfont before 1.5.4 and libXfont2 before 2.0.3, a local attacker can open (but not read) files on the system as root, triggering tape rewinds, watchdogs, or similar mechanisms that can be triggered by opening files.
osv:CVE-2017-16611
Complete source record
{
"id": "a3db06194c8425049305428d23e138ef33634a8e6f23f0aecb8eb33b1c6721a5",
"url": "https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2017-16611",
"method": "structured",
"payload": {
"kind": "advisory",
"title": "CVE-2017-16611",
"summary": "In libXfont before 1.5.4 and libXfont2 before 2.0.3, a local attacker can open (but not read) files on the system as root, triggering tape rewinds, watchdogs, or similar mechanisms that can be triggered by opening files.",
"evidence": "osv:CVE-2017-16611",
"products": [],
"severity": "medium",
"structured": {
"id": "CVE-2017-16611",
"aliases": [
"CVE-2017-16611"
],
"metrics": [
{
"type": "CVSS_V3",
"score": "CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H"
}
],
"affected": [
{
"ranges": [
{
"repo": "https://gitlab.freedesktop.org/xorg/lib/libxfont",
"type": "GIT",
"events": [
{
"introduced": "0"
},
{
"fixed": "7d246751628bb877e04da762ec1a2e41ffa62154"
}
],
"database_specific": {
"extracted_events": [
{
"cpe": "cpe:2.3:a:x:libxfont:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"range": [
{
"introduced": "1.0.0"
},
{
"fixed": "1.5.4"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
}
}
],
"versions": [
"libXfont-1.5.3",
"libXfont-1.5.2",
"libXfont-1.5.1",
"libXfont-1.5.0",
"libXfont-1.4.99.901",
"libXfont-1.4.7",
"libXfont-1.4.6",
"libXfont-1.4.5",
"libXfont-1.4.4",
"libXfont-1.4.3",
"libXfont-1.4.2",
"libXfont-1.4.1",
"libXfont-1.4.0",
"libXfont-1.3.4",
"libXfont-1.3.3",
"libXfont-1.3.2",
"libXfont-1.3.1",
"libXfont-1.3.0",
"libXfont-1.2.9",
"libXfont-1.2.8",
"libXfont-1.2.7",
"libXfont-1.2.6",
"libXfont-1.2.5",
"libXfont-1.2.4",
"libXfont-1.2.3",
"libXfont-1.2.0",
"libxfont-1_1_0",
"XORG-7_1",
"XORG-7_0_99_901",
"XORG-7_0",
"XORG-6_99_99_904",
"MODULAR_COPY",
"XORG-6_99_99_903",
"XORG-6_8_99_903",
"XORG-6_99_99_902",
"XORG-6_8_99_902",
"XORG-6_99_99_901",
"XORG-6_99_99_900",
"XORG-6_8_99_901",
"XORG-6_8_99_900",
"XORG-6_8_99_16",
"XORG-6_8_99_15",
"XORG-6_8_99_14",
"XORG-6_8_99_13",
"XORG-6_8_99_12",
"sco_port_update-base",
"XORG-6_8_99_8",
"XORG-6_8_99_7",
"XORG-6_8_99_6",
"XORG-6_8_99_5",
"XORG-6_8_99_4",
"XORG-6_8_99_11",
"XORG-6_8_99_9",
"XORG-6_8_99_10",
"XORG-6_8_99_3",
"XORG-6_8_99_2",
"XORG-6_8_99_1",
"rel-0-6-1",
"lg3d-rel-0-7-0",
"lg3d-base",
"XORG-6_8_1_902",
"XORG-6_8_1_901",
"XORG-6_8_1",
"XORG-6_8_0",
"XORG-6_7_99_904",
"XORG-6_7_99_903",
"XORG-6_7_99_902",
"XORG-6_7_99_901",
"XORG-6_7_99_2",
"XORG-6_7_99_1",
"XACE-SELINUX-MERGE",
"xf86-4_4_99_1",
"xf86-4_4_0",
"xf86-4_3_99_903",
"xf86-4_3_99_903_special",
"xf86-012804-2330",
"xf86-4_3_99_902",
"xf86-4_3_99_901",
"xf86-4_3_99_16",
"xf86-4_3_0_1",
"PRE_xf86-4_3_0_1",
"XORG-MAIN"
],
"database_specific": {
"source": "https://storage.googleapis.com/cve-osv-conversion/osv-output/CVE-2017-16611.json"
}
}
],
"modified": "2026-10-24T10:30:28.263736516Z",
"provider": "osv",
"references": [
"https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201801-10",
"https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1050459",
"https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2022/01/msg00028.html",
"https://marc.info/?l=freedesktop-xorg-announce&m=151188044218304&w=2",
"https://marc.info/?l=freedesktop-xorg-announce&m=151188049718337&w=2"
],
"provider_metadata": {
"unresolved_ranges": [
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:a:x:libxfont:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "x:libxfont",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "2.0.0"
},
{
"fixed": "2.0.3"
}
],
"source": "CPE_RANGE"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:17.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:17.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "canonical:ubuntu_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "14.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "14.04"
},
{
"introduced": "16.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "16.04"
},
{
"introduced": "17.04"
},
{
"last_affected": "17.04"
},
{
"introduced": "17.10"
},
{
"last_affected": "17.10"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
},
{
"cpes": [
"cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*",
"cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*"
],
"vendor_product": "debian:debian_linux",
"extracted_events": [
{
"range": [
{
"introduced": "8.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "8.0"
},
{
"introduced": "9.0"
},
{
"last_affected": "9.0"
}
],
"source": "CPE_STRING"
}
]
}
]
}
},
"related_cves": [
{
"value": "CVE-2017-16611",
"evidence": "/id"
}
],
"security_relevant": true,
"severity_evidence": "/severity/0/score"
},
"source_id": "core-osv",
"document_id": 432010,
"published_at": "2017-12-01T17:29:00.463+00:00"
}