CVE-2017-14604

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    CVE-2017-14604

    Published: 20 Sept 2017Last Modified: 9 Jul 2026

    Summary:

    Details: GNOME Nautilus before 3.23.90 allows attackers to spoof a file type by using the .desktop file extension, as demonstrated by an attack in which a .desktop file's Name field ends in .pdf but this file's Exec field launches a malicious "sh -c" command. In other words, Nautilus provides no UI indication that a file actually has the potentially unsafe .desktop extension; instead, the UI only shows the .pdf extension. One (slightly) mitigating factor is that an attack requires the .desktop file to have execute permission. The solution is to ask the user to confirm that the file is supposed to be treated as a .desktop file, and then remember the user's answer in the metadata::trusted field.

    References: http://www.debian.org/security/2017/dsa-3994, http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/101012, https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:0223, https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/2238, https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=860268, https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=777991, https://github.com/GNOME/nautilus/commit/1630f53481f445ada0a455e9979236d31a8d3bb0, https://github.com/GNOME/nautilus/commit/bc919205bf774f6af3fa7154506c46039af5a69b, https://micahflee.com/2017/04/breaking-the-security-model-of-subgraph-os/

    Affected packages

    Package

    Name:

    Purl:

    Affected ranges

    Type: GIT

    Events:

    Introduced- 0
    Fixed -bc919205bf774f6af3fa7154506c46039af5a69b

    Affected versions

    3.22.1
    3.22.0.1

    Common Vulnerability Scoring System

    Attack Vector
    Network
    Adjacent
    Local
    Physical
    Privileges Required
    None
    Low
    High
    User Interaction
    None
    Required
    Scope
    Unchanged
    Changed
    Confidentiality
    None
    Low
    High
    Integrity
    None
    Low
    High
    Availability
    None
    Low
    High
    CVE-2017-14604 | CVE-DB