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CVE Record

CVE-2017-9149: Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit (MAT) 0.6 and 0.6.1 silently fails to perform "Clean metadata" actions upon...

Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit (MAT) 0.6 and 0.6.1 silently fails to perform "Clean metadata" actions upon invocation from the Nautilus contextual menu, which allows context-dependent attackers to obtain sensitive information by reading a file for which cleaning had been attempted.

UnknownCVSS not scoredNot KEV-listedUpdated
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Glexia's TakeAutomated analysismoderate

Security readout for executives and security teams

Plain-English summary

MAT 0.6 and 0.6.1 could tell users metadata was cleaned from a file through the Nautilus menu when it was not. The main risk is accidental disclosure: files shared after attempted cleaning may still contain author, path, timestamp, or other embedded metadata.

Executive priority

Prioritize if the organization uses MAT to protect journalists, legal teams, researchers, investigations, or sensitive document sharing. For general environments without MAT usage, urgency is low, but affected workflows should be corrected before further external sharing.

Technical view

CVE-2017-9149 is a confidentiality flaw in Metadata Anonymisation Toolkit Nautilus integration. The contextual-menu "Clean metadata" action can silently fail in versions 0.6 and 0.6.1, leaving original metadata intact. The bundle lists upstream issue and commits plus a Debian bug, but no CVSS score or complete affected-package matrix.

Likely exposure

Exposure is most likely on Linux desktops using MAT 0.6 or 0.6.1 with Nautilus integration, especially teams that relied on right-click metadata cleaning before sharing documents externally.

Exploitation context

The source bundle does not show active exploitation or KEV listing. Abuse requires access to a file that a user believed was cleaned. The attacker benefit is reading residual metadata, not remote code execution or system takeover.

Researcher notes

The evidence is narrow: affected versions and failure mode are clear, but severity scoring, exploit prevalence, and fixed release details are not present in the bundle. Focus assessment on desktop workflow exposure and whether users trusted Nautilus-based cleaning.

Mitigation direction

  • Inventory systems for MAT 0.6 and 0.6.1 installations.
  • Stop relying on Nautilus contextual-menu cleaning for affected versions.
  • Check upstream or distribution guidance for fixed MAT packages.
  • Re-process sensitive files using a trusted, verified metadata-removal workflow.
  • Treat externally shared files cleaned this way as potentially still containing metadata.

Validation and detection

  • Confirm installed MAT versions on managed Linux desktops.
  • Identify files cleaned through the Nautilus menu using affected versions.
  • Inspect representative cleaned files to verify metadata was actually removed.
  • Review Debian and upstream MAT references for fixed package status.
  • Update security guidance for users who share anonymized documents.
Prepared
Confidence
medium
Sources
6

Public sources used

Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.

Potential ATT&CK relevance

Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context

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Vulnerability profileCVE Program record
Severity
Unknown
CVSS
Not scored
Known Exploited
No
Published
Official CVE source material

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.

0CVSS vectors
0Timeline events
0ADP providers
5Source links

CVSS and timeline data

No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.

Source materials

Affected products

Products and packages named in the record

VendorProductVersion / packageStatus
n/an/an/aListed
Weakness

CWE details

No CWE listed

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