CVE-2017-12197 is a medium-severity (CVSS 6.5) CWE-863 vulnerability in org.kohsuke:libpam4j. A fix is available for org.kohsuke:libpam4j — see the affected versions and patch details below.
Improper Input Validation in libpam4j
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
org.kohsuke:libpam4jReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects Maven packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
It was found that libpam4j up to and including 1.8 did not properly validate user accounts when authenticating. A user with a valid password for a disabled account would be able to bypass security restrictions and possibly access sensitive information.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☕Maven | org.kohsuke:libpam4j | all versions | 1.10org.kohsuke:libpam4j:1.10 |
Affected Products
debian linuxdebianlibpam4jlibpam4j_projectenterprise linuxredhatDetection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for org.kohsuke:libpam4j, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update org.kohsuke:libpam4j to 1.10 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2017-12197 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Put an independent control in front of the weakness: restrict the affected endpoint or interface to trusted networks, require an additional authentication factor or proxy-level check, and invalidate existing sessions and credentials in case the flaw has already been used.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
| Product | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.1 | see advisory | RHSA-2017:2906 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.1 for RHEL 6 | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:2.5.14-1.Final_redhat_1.1.jbcs.el6 | RHSA-2017:2904 |
| Red Hat Single Sign-On 7.1 for RHEL 7 | rh-sso7-keycloak-0:2.5.14-1.Final_redhat_1.1.jbcs.el7 | RHSA-2017:2905 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2017-12197 in your dependencies?
Find it across Maven, including transitive dependencies.