CVE-2017-20229

MAWK 1.3.3-17 Stack-Based Buffer Overflow

CVSS 9.3 CRITICALEPSS 0.6%CWE-787

Vexday Risk Score

48Attention

SSVC decision (CISA)

Attend

PoC available → attend closely

CVSS 9.3EPSS 0.6%KEV nãoPoC públicaNuclei —Metasploit —Patch —

Lifecycle

28 Mar 2026Published on NVD

Recommendation: Plan a near-term fix — a public PoC already exists.

MAWK 1.3.3-17 and prior contains a stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability that allows attackers to execute arbitrary code by exploiting inadequate boundary checks on user-supplied input. Attackers can craft malicious input that overflows the stack buffer and execute a return-oriented programming chain to spawn a shell with application privileges.

CVSS:4.0/AV:N/AC:L/AT:N/PR:N/UI:N/VC:H/VI:H/VA:H/SC:N/SI:N/SA:N

Affected products

mawk · MAWK

public PoCs found — 1

cve_referencewww.exploit-db.com/exploits/42357unverified

⚠ Public resources, to assess the exposure of systems you control or are authorized to test. Test only with authorization.

References

https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/42357 https://www.vulncheck.com/advisories/mawk-17-stack-based-buffer-overflow