CVE-2017-14604
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…
- 6.5MediumCVSS base score
- 2.5%Exploitation in 30 daysEPSS · top 15% of all CVEs
- NoKnown exploitednot in CISA's KEV catalog
- NonePublic exploitsnone known yet
Description
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.
Timeline
ID reserved
By mitre
Published
- 7 years later
· 7 years later
Record updated
Changes after publication (a new score, a public exploit, EPSS crossing 1, 10 or 50 %, leaving KEV) are kept since November 2026; earlier ones are not known.
Scores
| Scored by | CVSS | Score | Vector |
|---|---|---|---|
| NVDNVD · Modified | 3.1 | Medium6.5 | CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N |
- EPSS (exploitation in 30 days)
- 2.5% · top 15% of all CVEs (9 Nov 2026)
The list uses the assigner's score when there is one, then CISA's, then NVD's: Medium 6.5.
Affected products
n/a
- affected n/a
References
9
- https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/2238 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=860268 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://github.com/GNOME/nautilus/commit/1630f53481f445ada0a455e9979236d31a8d3bb0 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=777991 (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- 101012 (opens in a new tab)vdb-entryx_refsource_BIDx_transferred
- DSA-3994 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_DEBIANx_transferred
- https://github.com/GNOME/nautilus/commit/bc919205bf774f6af3fa7154506c46039af5a69b (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- https://micahflee.com/2017/04/breaking-the-security-model-of-subgraph-os/ (opens in a new tab)x_refsource_MISCx_transferred
- RHSA-2018:0223 (opens in a new tab)vendor-advisoryx_refsource_REDHATx_transferred
Sources
The same CVE in the primary databases and aggregators, to check against.
- CVE.org record (opens in a new tab)
- CVE List JSON (GitHub) (opens in a new tab)
- NVD (opens in a new tab)
- FIRST EPSS (opens in a new tab)
- EUVD EUVD-2017-6105 (opens in a new tab)
- OSV.dev (opens in a new tab)
- GitHub Advisories (opens in a new tab)
- CIRCL Vulnerability-Lookup (opens in a new tab)
Badge for a README or a ticket
[](https://cveledger.app/cve/CVE-2017-14604)Record last updated .