CVE-2017-16844

CRITICALNVD 9.89.8
EchelonGraph scoreMEDIUM confidence

“—” beside the score: it is equal to NVD's CVSS score.

Score 9.8 from GitHub Security Advisory (severity: CRITICAL) published 2022-05-14. NVD baseline CVSS 9.8; sources differ by 0.0.

Triggered by: GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
Sources: EPSS, GitHub Security Advisory, NVD CVSS v3
Trending — 4 sources updated this weekElevated
9.8EG
EchelonGraph verdictPlan a fixRemediate within your standard update timelines (the SSVC decision on this page).
  • High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
CISA-KEV: Not listedEPSS PROB: 13%CVSS: 9.8Exploit: No code on recordExposed services: Not assessed

A fix is available — apply it.

Heap-based buffer overflow in the loadbuf function in formisc.c in formail in procmail 3.22 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted e-mail message because of a hardcoded realloc size, a different vulnerability than CVE-2014-3618.

CVSS v3
9.8
EG Score
9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
EG Risk
60
EG Risk 60/100

EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score. It fuses impact severity (EG Severity, the CVSS base score, never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score) with real-world exploitation and automatability, under weights EchelonGraph set by hand, so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner.

How it’s computed (value × EchelonGraph’s weight)
Severity98% × 45%
Impact severity (EG Severity): CVSS 9.8 of 10. Never the KEV-floored or EPSS-lifted EG Score.
Exploitation40% × 40%
EchelonGraph's fixed weight for EG-KEV Tier 3 (Elevated): a constant, not a probability.
Automatability0% × 15%
CISA's BOD 26-04 default: no one has published Automatable for this CVE, and CISA treats it as “no” for a CVE not in KEV.
SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph): Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).
Exploitation none (no CISA value, KEV listing or exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE.
Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.
EPSS PROB
13%
EPSS %ILE
96th
KEV
Not listed

What the EG score is made of (scorer v4.0: the three questions the 0–10 score mixes, published apart · methodology)

The EG score (9.8): severity, escalated by confirmed exploitation. This CVE's 9.8 is its impact severity (EG Severity), not escalated.

EG Severity
9.8 CRITICALCVSS-B, impact only: no KEV listing, EPSS or EG-KEV tier raises it.GitHub Security Advisory CVSS
EG Likelihood
13% within 30 daysSource: FIRST EPSS (model v2026.06.15, score date 2026-10-22). FIRST's exploitation probability, not an EchelonGraph model.
Confirmed exploitation
None on record (CISA KEV, EG-KEV Tier 1)Reported apart from the likelihood: an observed fact, not a probability.
EG Priority
SSVC Track at medium mission impactTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).CISA BOD 26-04: 14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.Each input and its source: the SSVC and BOD 26-04 blocks below.

SSVC (CISA's decision table, applied by EchelonGraph)Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* at high (mission-essential systems).

A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines.

Exploitation none (no CISA value, KEV listing or exploit code on record) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). EchelonGraph holds no SSVC assessment of this CVE from CISA: none of these inputs is from Vulnrichment. EchelonGraph applied CISA's decision table to them; CISA publishes SSVC inputs and the table, not a decision for each CVE. Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it. CISA's table makes it high when Mission Prevalence is Essential — the vulnerable component "directly provides capabilities that constitute at least one MEF for at least one entity" (MEF: mission essential function) — or when Public Well-Being Impact is Irreversible: "multiple fatalities are likely", the cyber-physical system "is likely lost or destroyed", "extreme or serious externalities" are imposed on other parties, or social systems such as elections or the financial grid "are destabilized and potentially collapse". CISA's decision table

BOD 26-04 (CISA's remediation timeline, Table 1)14 days if the affected system is publicly exposed; Fix on system upgrade if it is not.

In CISA KEV no (CISA's KEV catalog) · Automatable no (CISA's BOD 26-04 default) · Technical impact total (CISA's BOD 26-04 default). Where an input reads “CISA's BOD 26-04 default”, no one has published it for this CVE, and CISA's implementation guidance says: “If “Automatable” and “Technical Impact” information items about a CVE ID are not available and the CVE ID is not in the KEV Catalog, CISA will treat its values as “no” and “total,” respectively, until CISA or a third party provides metadata about the CVE ID. CISA will always provide the Vulnrichment data for a CVE ID listed in the KEV Catalog.” Whether your system is publicly exposed is yours to answer. BOD 26-04 binds US Federal Civilian Executive Branch agencies; for anyone else it is CISA's published timeline, a reference rather than an obligation. The directive · how EchelonGraph applies it

Published

November 16, 2017

Last Modified

June 17, 2026

Advisory Details (5)

Auto-updated Oct 6, 2026
Patch available. Sources: redhat.
Web page

[SECURITY] [DSA 4041-1] procmail security update

https://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-4041
Web page

[SECURITY] [DLA 1173-1] procmail security update

https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2017/11/msg00019.html
Web pageMentions a patch (unverified)

#876511 - formail: CVE-2017-16844: heap-based buffer overflow in loadbuf() - Debian Bug report logs

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=876511
Red HatMentions a patch (unverified)

Affected: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.

https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2017:3269

Patch Availability(3)

Vendor / EcosystemFix (by version range) / PatchReleasedSource
ubuntuprocmail (3.22-25ubuntu0.16.04.1) @ xenial2026-10-21ubuntu
ubuntuprocmail (3.22-19ubuntu0.2) @ precise2026-10-21ubuntu
redhatprocmail-0:3.22-36.el7_4.12017-11-28redhat

Patches are aggregated from vendor advisories (Red Hat, Microsoft, Cisco, GitHub) and package ecosystems (OSV, GHSA). Multiple rows for the same upstream release have been deduplicated.

Affected Packages

(7 across 7 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail—
  • every version up to 3.22-26: fixed in 3.22-26
—
Debian:12(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail—
  • every version up to 3.22-26: fixed in 3.22-26
—
Debian:13(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail—
  • every version up to 3.22-26: fixed in 3.22-26
—
Debian:14(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail—
  • every version up to 3.22-26: fixed in 3.22-26
—
Debian:7(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail3.22-20, 3.22-20+deb7u1
  • every version up to 3.22-20+deb7u2: fixed in 3.22-20+deb7u2
—
Debian:8(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail3.22-24
  • every version up to 3.22-24+deb8u1: fixed in 3.22-24+deb8u1
—
Debian:9(1)
PackageVulnerable rangeFix by version rangeDependents
procmail3.22-25
  • every version up to 3.22-25+deb9u1: fixed in 3.22-25+deb9u1
—

Weakness Classification(1)

MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.

Additional Vendor Advisories

(3)

Vendors that published advisories for this CVE beyond the curated set above. Broader coverage but minimal per-row detail — click through for the original advisory.

Data Freshness Timeline

(refreshed 26× in last 7d / 58× in last 30d)

Each row is a time one of our pipelines fetched, updated or re-scored this CVE. For example, "NVD update" means NVD published or revised its analysis for this CVE; "MITRE cvelistV5" means we ingested or refreshed it from the CNA feed. An arrow marks a change the record states ("CVSS v3 → 9.1"); EPSS and GHSA rows show the values recorded at that time, not what changed (EPSS values are rounded; hover one for the exact figures). Most recent first.

Showing the most recent 100 of 209 refreshes on record for this CVE.

A repeat, a row identical to one the same pipeline wrote less than 10 seconds earlier, is not a separate refresh and is not counted. None are among the latest 100 rows. The 109 oldest rows on record are not shown and were not checked, so the counts can still include repeats.

  1. 2026-10-23 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  2. 2026-10-22 23:55 UTCEG score recompute
  3. 2026-10-22 23:55 UTCVendor advisory
  4. 2026-10-22 23:55 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  5. 2026-10-22 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  6. 2026-10-21 22:15 UTCEG score recompute
  7. 2026-10-21 22:15 UTCVendor advisory
  8. 2026-10-21 22:15 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  9. 2026-10-21 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  10. 2026-10-20 20:37 UTCEG score recompute
  11. 2026-10-20 20:37 UTCVendor advisory
  12. 2026-10-20 20:37 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  13. 2026-10-20 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  14. 2026-10-19 19:01 UTCEG score recompute
  15. 2026-10-19 19:01 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-10-19 19:01 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  17. 2026-10-19 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  18. 2026-10-18 17:19 UTCEG score recompute
  19. 2026-10-18 17:19 UTCVendor advisory
  20. 2026-10-18 17:19 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  21. 2026-10-18 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  22. 2026-10-18 10:36 UTCEG score recompute
  23. 2026-10-17 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  24. 2026-10-17 15:41 UTCEG score recompute
  25. 2026-10-17 15:41 UTCVendor advisory
Show 75 more
  1. 2026-10-17 15:41 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  2. 2026-10-16 16:29 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  3. 2026-10-16 14:02 UTCEG score recompute
  4. 2026-10-16 14:02 UTCVendor advisory
  5. 2026-10-16 14:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  6. 2026-10-15 16:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  7. 2026-10-15 12:25 UTCEG score recompute
  8. 2026-10-15 12:25 UTCVendor advisory
  9. 2026-10-15 12:25 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  10. 2026-10-14 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  11. 2026-10-14 07:49 UTCEG score recompute
  12. 2026-10-14 07:49 UTCVendor advisory
  13. 2026-10-14 07:49 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  14. 2026-10-13 16:27 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  15. 2026-10-13 03:02 UTCVendor advisory
  16. 2026-10-13 03:02 UTCGHSA enrichmentGHSA-4f62-c8fw-44pp · GitHub severity CRITICAL · GitHub CVSS 9.8
  17. 2026-10-12 20:32 UTCEG score recompute
  18. 2026-10-12 16:28 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  19. 2026-10-12 00:55 UTCEG score recompute
  20. 2026-10-11 13:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  21. 2026-10-10 19:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  22. 2026-10-09 20:02 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  23. 2026-10-08 16:35 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  24. 2026-10-07 23:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  25. 2026-10-06 15:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  26. 2026-10-05 17:38 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  27. 2026-10-04 11:30 UTCOSV refresh
  28. 2026-10-03 14:21 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  29. 2026-09-30 14:58 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  30. 2026-09-30 09:29 UTCEG score recompute
  31. 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  32. 2026-09-26 15:53 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  33. 2026-09-24 13:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  34. 2026-09-19 15:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  35. 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  36. 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 96th percentile
  37. 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  38. 2026-09-15 01:14 UTCOSV refresh
  39. 2026-09-13 16:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  40. 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  41. 2026-09-11 09:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  42. 2026-09-10 09:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  43. 2026-09-07 15:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  44. 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  45. 2026-09-04 05:01 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  46. 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  47. 2026-09-01 13:48 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  48. 2026-09-01 03:31 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  49. 2026-08-30 19:13 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  50. 2026-08-28 21:36 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 10% · 95th percentile
  51. 2026-08-27 14:20 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  52. 2026-08-27 01:00 UTCOSV refresh
  53. 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  54. 2026-08-25 13:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  55. 2026-08-24 14:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  56. 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  57. 2026-08-20 22:50 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  58. 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  59. 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  60. 2026-08-17 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  61. 2026-08-16 14:51 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  62. 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  63. 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  64. 2026-08-13 21:56 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  65. 2026-08-10 14:38 UTCOSV refresh
  66. 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  67. 2026-08-08 16:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  68. 2026-08-07 16:22 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  69. 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  70. 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  71. 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  72. 2026-08-04 10:32 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  73. 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  74. 2026-08-01 04:11 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile
  75. 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescoreEPSS 13% · 95th percentile

Frequently asked(5)

What is CVE-2017-16844?
CVE-2017-16844 is a critical-severity vulnerability; its CVE record was published on November 16, 2017. Heap-based buffer overflow in the loadbuf function in formisc.c in formail in procmail 3.22 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted e-mail message because of a hardcoded realloc size, a different vulnerability than…
When was CVE-2017-16844 made public?
CVE-2017-16844 was made public on November 16, 2017: that is the date its CVE record's CNA, MITRE Corporation, gives for when the vulnerability was made public. The CVE record itself was published on November 16, 2017. EchelonGraph's copy of the record carries a last-modified date of June 17, 2026; the record at its source may have been updated since.
Is CVE-2017-16844 actively exploited?
CVE-2017-16844 is not currently on CISA's Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog. FIRST EPSS estimates a 13% probability of exploitation in the next 30 days (96th percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs).
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-16844?
CVE-2017-16844 has a CVSS v3 base score of 9.8 (NVD).
How do I remediate CVE-2017-16844?
A fix for CVE-2017-16844 is available: update to the fixed version the vendor names in its advisory. The vendor advisories EchelonGraph has for CVE-2017-16844 are linked in the Vendor Advisories panel on this page.

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