Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2017-9159 is a crash vulnerability in AutoTrace 0.31.1. If AutoTrace processes untrusted PNM/PBM image input, a remote attacker could trigger an invalid write and segmentation fault, causing denial of service. The supplied sources do not provide CVSS, affected package matrices, or confirmed fixes.
Executive priority
Prioritize if AutoTrace is exposed through customer uploads or automated image conversion. For isolated desktop-only use, urgency is lower but still warrants inventory and vendor guidance checks because the affected component is old and crash-prone.
Technical view
The issue is reported in libautotrace.a, tied to pnm_load_rawpbm in input-pnm.c at line 391. The described failure mode is invalid write followed by SEGV. Evidence identifies AutoTrace 0.31.1, but the source bundle does not establish other versions, exploitability beyond denial of service, or patch details.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where AutoTrace 0.31.1 or bundled libautotrace processes externally supplied image files. Risk is higher in automated conversion services, upload pipelines, or desktop workflows that open untrusted PNM/PBM content.
Exploitation context
The bundle supports denial of service only. It does not show KEV listing, active exploitation, public weaponization, or code execution. Treat exploitation status as unconfirmed beyond the CVE description and Gentoo vulnerability write-up.
Researcher notes
The public record is sparse: no CVSS vector, CWE, CPE, patch reference, or version range is supplied here. Analysis should stay scoped to AutoTrace 0.31.1 denial of service in pnm_load_rawpbm unless additional vendor advisories are obtained.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory AutoTrace and libautotrace usage across servers, containers, and desktop tooling.
- Check AutoTrace, OS distribution, and vendor package guidance for fixed versions.
- Avoid processing untrusted PNM/PBM files with affected AutoTrace builds.
- Place image conversion workers behind isolation, quotas, and restart supervision.
- Disable AutoTrace-backed upload processing where business impact permits.
Validation and detection
- Confirm installed AutoTrace versions, especially any 0.31.1 builds.
- Review applications that call libautotrace or shell out to AutoTrace.
- Check whether user-supplied images reach AutoTrace processing paths.
- Review crash logs for AutoTrace segmentation faults during image ingestion.
- Verify remediation against vendor or distribution advisory guidance.
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.
CVE-2017-9159 mapping review
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Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
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 and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- https://blogs.gentoo.org/ago/2017/05/20/autotrace-multiple-vulnerabilities-the-autotrace-nightmare/CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.