Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2017-20162 is a denial-of-service risk in the vercel ms package version 1.x. A specially crafted string can make its time-parsing regular expression consume excessive processing time, reducing availability. The cited record says a public exploit exists, but KEV is false and the bundle does not prove active exploitation.
Executive priority
Treat this as a moderate availability issue. It is worth fixing in normal patch cycles, faster for externally reachable or multi-tenant systems. There is public exploit information, but no supplied evidence of active exploitation or confidentiality impact.
Technical view
The issue affects the parse function in index.js in vercel ms 1.x. It is classified as CWE-1333, inefficient regular expression complexity. CVSS 3.1 is 4.3: network reachable, low complexity, low privileges required, no user interaction, and low availability impact only. The cited fix is commit caae2988ba2a37765d055c4eee63d383320ee662 and release 2.0.0.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely in applications, services, or downstream products that include vercel ms 1.x and pass user-controlled or tenant-controlled strings into duration parsing. Source evidence names vercel ms 1.x and includes a NetApp advisory, but this bundle does not list specific NetApp affected products.
Exploitation context
The public sources state the exploit was disclosed and may be used. They do not show KEV listing or confirmed active exploitation. Practical impact is availability degradation, not data theft or code execution. The CVSS vector indicates an attacker needs low privileges, so exposure depends on where parsing is reachable.
Researcher notes
Focus validation on dependency reachability, not only package presence. The risk is ReDoS in parsing, with low availability impact and low privilege requirement. Avoid assuming all downstream products are affected; the bundle references NetApp but does not provide affected-version detail.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade vercel ms from 1.x to 2.0.0 where compatible.
- Apply the vendor patch identified as caae2988ba2a37765d055c4eee63d383320ee662.
- Check vendor advisories for downstream products that embed ms.
- Prioritize internet-facing or multi-tenant services using ms parsing.
- Monitor vendor guidance if immediate upgrade is not feasible.
Validation and detection
- Inventory package manifests, lockfiles, SBOMs, and bundled dependencies for ms 1.x.
- Confirm whether user-controlled strings reach ms parse behavior.
- Review SCA results for CVE-2017-20162 across deployed artifacts.
- Verify upgraded builds resolve ms to version 2.0.0 or a fixed later version.
- Check whether relevant NetApp products match the advisory scope.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CWE-1333: Exact CWE lookup
Use the exact CWE identifier as the starting point before reviewing related ATT&CK behavior. Open the exact CWE lookup page first, then review the ATT&CK searches from that MITRE weakness context. This is a Glexia lookup hint, not an official ATT&CK mapping.
Open ATT&CK lookupCVE-2017-20162 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Medium
- CVSS
- 4.3 (3.1)
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
Vector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS vector scores
1 official scoreWe collect every scored CVSS vector available in the official CNA and ADP containers. When more than one version is present, the table keeps the source vectors side by side instead of collapsing them into the highest score.
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L2.81.4Primary CVE scoreVulnerability scoring details
Base CVSS 3.1 score
4.3MediumVector: CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:L
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://vuldb.com/?id.217451CVE reference · vdb-entry, technical-description
- https://vuldb.com/?ctiid.217451CVE reference · signature, permissions-required
- https://github.com/vercel/ms/pull/89CVE reference · exploit, issue-tracking
- https://github.com/vercel/ms/commit/caae2988ba2a37765d055c4eee63d383320ee662CVE reference · patch
- https://github.com/vercel/ms/releases/tag/2.0.0CVE reference · patch
- https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20241108-0002/CVE reference
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.
Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity
Inefficient Regular Expression Complexity represents a recurring weakness pattern that can create exploitable paths when design, validation, or implementation controls are missing.