Tor
CVE-2017-8820
HIGH
Vulnerability Assessment
| Weakness |
CWE
OWASP Top 10:2025
A10:2025 - Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
ASVS 5.0
V16 - Security Logging and Error Handling Null pointer safety, defensive checks
MITRE ATT&CK
1 technique across 1 tactic: Impact The technique list with ATT&CK links and the kill-chain view is part of the Basic plan and up. |
| Impact | CVSS score of 7.5 (HIGH). Attack characteristics: network attack vector, low complexity, no privileges required, no user interaction not required. EPSS exploitation probability: 0.44%. |
| Exploit ScenarioDerived | A remote attacker could crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer by sending crafted requests to the affected application. No authentication is required to exploit this vulnerability. |
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Alert meAnalysisAI
In Tor before 0.2.5.16, 0.2.6 through 0.2.8 before 0.2.8.17, 0.2.9 before 0.2.9.14, 0.3.0 before 0.3.0.13, and 0.3.1 before 0.3.1.9, remote attackers can cause a denial of service (NULL pointer. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability is remotely exploitable, no authentication required, low attack complexity. No vendor patch available.
RemediationAI
No vendor patch is available at time of analysis. Monitor vendor advisories for updates. Check pointers before dereferencing. Use static analysis tools to detect null pointer paths.
Affects your stack
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Checking this CVE against your own stacks and servers is part of the Basic plan and up.
Technical ContextAI · show details
This vulnerability is classified as NULL Pointer Dereference (CWE-476), which allows attackers to crash the application by dereferencing a null pointer. In Tor before 0.2.5.16, 0.2.6 through 0.2.8 before 0.2.8.17, 0.2.9 before 0.2.9.14, 0.3.0 before 0.3.0.13, and 0.3.1 before 0.3.1.9, remote attackers can cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) against directory authorities via a malformed descriptor, aka TROVE-2017-010. Affected products include: Tor Project Tor, Debian Debian Linux. Version information: before 0.2.5.16.
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- Exploit and PoC references, threat intelligence from 22 sources
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Severity by source
AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Primary rating from NVD · only source for this CVE.
CVSS VectorNVD
DescriptionCVE.org
In Tor before 0.2.5.16, 0.2.6 through 0.2.8 before 0.2.8.17, 0.2.9 before 0.2.9.14, 0.3.0 before 0.3.0.13, and 0.3.1 before 0.3.1.9, remote attackers can cause a denial of service (NULL pointer dereference and application crash) against directory authorities via a malformed descriptor, aka TROVE-2017-010.
Threat Intelligence Overview
NVD
CVE.org
EPSS
How this decision was reached
The engine reads each signal below and applies a fixed list of rules from top to bottom. The first rule that matches sets the recommended action – like a statement, every line is shown.
What every action level means
SSVC AssessmentENISA
Priority Score
Attack Technique
A null pointer dereference occurs when a program attempts to access memory through a pointer that has been set to NULL (address 0x0).
Denial of Service attacks render applications or systems unavailable by overwhelming resources or triggering failure conditions.
Affected Products (CPE)CVE.org
Tor Browser before 7.0.9 on macOS and Linux allows remote attackers to bypass the intended anonymity feature and discove
Tor before 0.3.5.16, 0.4.5.10, and 0.4.6.7 mishandles the relationship between batch-signature verification and single-s
A use-after-free issue was discovered in Tor 0.3.2.x before 0.3.2.10. Rated high severity (CVSS 7.5), this vulnerability
The SafeSocks option in Tor before 0.4.7.13 has a logic error in which the unsafe SOCKS4 protocol can be used but not th
Out-of-bounds write in The Tor Project's tor daemon (0.2.8.2-alpha through versions before 0.4.9.9) can be triggered whe
The daemon in Tor through 0.4.1.8 and 0.4.2.x through 0.4.2.6 does not verify that a rendezvous node is known before att
Out-of-bounds read by one byte in Tor before version 0.4.9.7 when processing malformed BEGIN cells allows remote unauthe
An out-of-bounds read in Tor before 0.4.9.7 can be triggered by a malicious circuit participant sending an END, TRUNCATE
Rendezvous-point impersonation in Tor before 0.4.9.11 lets a malicious relay that a client happens to select as its rend
Write-after-free in Tor's conflux (traffic-splitting) subsystem allows a remote unauthenticated attacker to crash a Tor
Use-after-free in Tor's conflux circuit handling allows a malicious Tor client to corrupt relay memory by sending a RELA
In Tor before 0.2.5.16, 0.2.6 through 0.2.8 before 0.2.8.17, 0.2.9 before 0.2.9.14, 0.3.0 before 0.3.0.13, and 0.3.1 bef
GitHub PoC
Exploit-DB