CVE-2017-5545

What is this vulnerability?

CVE-2017-5545 is categorized as a critical Out-of-bounds Read flaw with a CVSS base score of 9.1. Based on our vulnerability intelligence, this issue occurs when the application fails to securely handle untrusted data boundaries.

The main function in plistutil.c in libimobiledevice libplist through 1.12 allows attackers to obtain sensitive information from process memory or cause a denial of service (buffer over-read) via Apple Property List data that is too short.

This architectural defect enables adversaries to bypass intended security controls, directly manipulating the application's execution state or data layer. Immediate strategic intervention is required.

Risk Assessment

Impact on Systems

✅ Remote Code Execution: Attackers can overwrite the instruction pointer to redirect execution to malicious shellcode.

✅ Memory Corruption: Overwriting adjacent memory regions can corrupt critical application state, leading to privilege escalation.

✅ Denial of Service: Triggering segmentation faults results in immediate disruption of critical systems.

How to Fix and Mitigate CVE-2017-5545

1. Apply Vendor Patches: Upgrade affected components to their latest, non-vulnerable versions immediately.
2. Implement Input Validation: Ensure all user-supplied data is validated, sanitized, and type-checked before processing.
3. Deploy Runtime Protection: Use Precogs continuous monitoring to detect exploitation attempts in real time.
4. Audit Dependencies: Review and update all third-party libraries and transitive dependencies.

Defending with Precogs AI

The main function in plistutil (libplist) contains an out-of-bounds read vulnerability. Attackers provide a malformed Apple Property List (.plist) file, causing the utility to crash or leak sensitive memory contents during parsing. Precogs Binary Analysis detects missing bounds checks in file parsing logic.

Use Precogs to continuously scan your codebase, binaries, APIs, and infrastructure for this vulnerability class and related attack patterns. Our AI-powered detection engine combines static analysis with threat intelligence to identify exploitable weaknesses before attackers do.

Start scanning with Precogs →

Vulnerability Code Signature

Attack Data Flow

Vulnerable Code Pattern

// ❌ VULNERABLE: Out-of-bounds read
void read_data(char *input, int length) {
    char buffer[64] = {0};
    // Taint sink: reads beyond buffer size if length > 64
    memcpy(buffer, input, length);
}

Secure Code Pattern

// ✅ SECURE: Bounded read
void read_data(char *input, int length) {
    char buffer[64] = {0};
    // Sanitized boundary check
    int safe_length = (length > sizeof(buffer)) ? sizeof(buffer) : length;
    memcpy(buffer, input, safe_length);
}

How Precogs Detects This

Precogs Binary SAST engine explicitly uncovers memory boundary violations and unsafe memory management functions in compiled binaries.\n