In PyYAML before 5.1, the yaml.load() API could execute arbitrary code if used with untrusted data. The load() function has been deprecated in version 5.1 and the 'UnsafeLoader' has been introduced for backward compatibility with the function.
CVE-2017-18342
This critical-severity CVE scores 9.8 under NVD CVSS v3. EPSS exploit probability: 5.7% (92nd percentile of EPSS-scored CVEs). GitHub Security Advisory data not yet ingested — confidence will rise once GHSA publishes (typical lag: hours to days for open-source ecosystem CVEs; never for infrastructure-only CVEs).
- High severity, but no confirmed exploitation yet
A fix is available — apply it.
- CVSS v3
- 9.8
- EG Score
- 9.8CRITICALmedium confidence
- EG Risk
- 51EG Risk 51/100CISA SSVC
EG Risk is EchelonGraph's 0–100 priority score: it fuses intrinsic severity with real-world exploitation and automatability so you can rank equal-severity CVEs and fix the most dangerous first. Higher = act sooner. Distinct from the 0–10 EG Score (severity).
How it’s computedSeverity98% × 45%Exploitation6% × 40%Automatability30% × 15%CISA SSVC: Track at low or medium mission impact; Track* or Attend at high (mission-essential systems).Action: A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high. - EPSS PROB
- 5.7%
- EPSS %ILE
- 92nd
- KEV
- Not listed
CISA SSVCTrack at low or medium mission impact; Track* or Attend at high (mission-essential systems).
A fix is available. Apply it within your standard update timelines at low or medium mission impact and sooner than that at high.
Exploitation none (no KEV listing, exploit record or EPSS ≥ 50%) · Automatable unknown (not published for this CVE) · Technical impact total (CVSS ≥ 9.0). Mission impact is CISA's Mission & Well-being decision point, and only you can judge it: high means the affected system is essential to your organisation's mission, or its compromise could cause irreversible harm to people. CISA's decision table
Published
June 27, 2018
Last Modified
November 21, 2024
Advisory Details (9)
Auto-updated Oct 7, 2026Use 'yaml.safe_load' in 'load_yaml_from_docstring' · Issue #278 · marshmallow-code/apispec · GitHub
https://github.com/marshmallow-code/apispec/issues/278PyYAML: Arbitrary code execution (GLSA 202003-45) — Gentoo security
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-45[SECURITY] Fedora 29 Update: PyYAML-5.1-1.fc29 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/M6JCFGEIEOFMWWIXGHSELMKQDD4CV2BA/[SECURITY] Fedora 28 Update: PyYAML-5.1-1.fc28 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/KSQQMRUQSXBSUXLCRD3TSZYQ7SEZRKCE/[SECURITY] Fedora 30 Update: PyYAML-5.1-1.fc30 - package-announce - Fedora mailing-lists
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/JEX7IPV5P2QJITAMA5Z63GQCZA5I6NVZ/PyYAML yaml.load(input) Deprecation · yaml/pyyaml Wiki · GitHub
https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/wiki/PyYAML-yaml.load%28input%29-DeprecationMake pyyaml safe by default.
Patch available: yaml/pyyaml 6.0.2rc1 (PR #74 merged 2017-08-26)
https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/pull/74PyYAML 4.2 Release Plan · Issue #193 · yaml/pyyaml · GitHub
https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/issues/193pyyaml/CHANGES at main · yaml/pyyaml · GitHub
https://github.com/yaml/pyyaml/blob/master/CHANGESVendor Advisories for CVE-2017-18342(1)
These vendors published their own advisory mentioning this CVE — often with vendor-specific remediation steps + affected product lists not in NVD.
Affected Packages
(5 across 5 ecosystems)
Debian:11(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| pyyaml | — |
| — |
Debian:12(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| pyyaml | — |
| — |
Debian:13(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| pyyaml | — |
| — |
Debian:14(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| pyyaml | — |
| — |
PyPI(1)
| Package | Vulnerable range | Fix by version range | Dependents |
|---|---|---|---|
| pyyaml | 3.01 ... 5.1b7 (22 versions) |
| — |
Weakness Classification(1)
MITRE Common Weakness Enumeration — the root-cause categories this CVE belongs to.
Data Freshness Timeline
(refreshed 6× in last 7d / 22× in last 30d)
Each row is a source pipeline that fetched or updated this CVE on that date, with what changed. 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. Most recent first.
Showing the most recent 100 of 144 total refreshes for this CVE.
- 2026-10-09 20:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-09 06:25 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-10-08 16:36 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-07 23:41 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-06 15:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-05 17:38 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-10-03 14:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-30 14:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-30 09:31 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-09-28 13:45 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-27 13:40 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-26 15:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-24 13:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-19 13:02 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-09-18 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-17 19:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-15 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-13 16:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-12 14:55 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-11 09:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-07 15:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-06 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-05 15:23 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-09-04 13:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-02 14:07 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-09-01 03:31 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-31 16:34 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-30 19:13 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-27 14:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-26 14:41 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-21 23:44 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-19 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-18 13:43 UTCEPSS rescore
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- 2026-08-16 02:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-15 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-14 21:24 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-08-12 13:46 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-09 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-07 16:22 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-06 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-05 19:12 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-04 15:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-02 02:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-08-01 04:11 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-30 10:14 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-30 01:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-28 15:32 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 14:15 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-23 01:28 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 22:07 UTCEG score recompute
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-22 14:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-21 15:21 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-20 17:04 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 14:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-19 02:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-18 10:00 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-16 16:59 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-15 01:56 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-13 22:26 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-12 19:08 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-07-12 05:43 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-11 08:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-09 19:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-08 15:10 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-07 13:42 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 16:24 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-06 02:20 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-05 02:27 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-04 06:28 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-02 16:54 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-07-01 15:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-30 23:19 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-29 14:03 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-28 04:53 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:06 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-27 03:05 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-25 13:47 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 14:02 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-24 03:59 UTCOSV refresh
- 2026-06-23 21:30 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
- 2026-06-22 14:23 UTCEPSS rescore
Related CVEs(same product + same CWE)
Same product
4 shownPyPI:pyyaml · Debian:11:pyyaml
Same CWE
10 shownCWE-502
- CVE-2018-1000527EG 7.2HIGH
- CVE-2018-1000525EG 9.8EPSS p90CRITICAL
- CVE-2018-1000509EG 7.2HIGH
- CVE-2017-3207EG 9.8EPSS p95CRITICAL
- CVE-2017-3203EG 8.1EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2017-3202EG 9.8EPSS p95CRITICAL
- CVE-2017-3201EG 8.1EPSS p92HIGH
- CVE-2017-3200EG 8.1EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2017-3199EG 8.1EPSS p93HIGH
- CVE-2018-1000210EG 7.8HIGH
Frequently asked(5)
What is CVE-2017-18342?
When was CVE-2017-18342 disclosed?
Is CVE-2017-18342 actively exploited?
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2017-18342?
How do I remediate CVE-2017-18342?
Dependency Blast Radius
See which npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven packages are affected by CVE-2017-18342
Is Your Infrastructure Affected by CVE-2017-18342?
EchelonGraph automatically scans your cloud infrastructure and maps CVE exposure using blast radius analysis.