CVE-2017-12197 — libpam4j
MEDIUMCVE-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
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2017-12197 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 377,166 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
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 |
Detection & 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
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 Security's impact-aware SCA analyses which vulnerable code paths your application actually calls, so a match like CVE-2017-12197 can be triaged on real exposure rather than presence alone.
Tailored to CVE-2017-12197. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
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?
O3 Security finds CVE-2017-12197 across Maven dependencies, including transitive ones, and its impact-aware SCA ranks findings by whether your code actually calls the vulnerable path.