CVE-2017-12164
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean...
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
Attack profile
How easy it is to exploit
- Attack vector
- Physical
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges needed
- None
- User interaction
- Required
What an attacker can affect
- Confidentiality
- Low
- Integrity
- Low
- Availability
- Low
Exploit likelihood
What each source reports
CVE List Score used
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
- Record
CVE-2017-12164- CVSS 3.0
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - Weakness
- CWE-592
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
EUVDEUVD-2017-3741
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
- Record
EUVD-2017-3741- CVSS 3.0
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - Updated
- 2026-11-03
GitHub AdvisoriesGHSA-87vr-968r-r3qp
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean...
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
- Record
GHSA-87vr-968r-r3qp- CVSS 3.0
- 6.4 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Weakness
- CWE-665
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
NVD
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
- Record
CVE-2017-12164- CVSS 3.0
- 4.1 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:L/I:L/A:L - CVSS 3.0
- 6.4 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - CVSS 2.0
- 6.9 Medium
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C - Weakness
- CWE-592, CWE-665
- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSV
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
- Record
CVE-2017-12164- CVSS 3.0
- 6.4 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVDEBIAN-CVE-2017-12164
A flaw was discovered in gdm 3.24.1 where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enabled for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen.
- Record
DEBIAN-CVE-2017-12164- CVSS 3.0
- 6.4 Medium
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H - Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVMGASA-2018-0056 No score
Updated gdm packages fix security vulnerability
Updated gdm packages fix security vulnerability:
A flaw was discovered in the gdm where gdm greeter was no longer setting the ran_once boolean during autologin. If autologin was enable for a victim, an attacker could simply select 'login as another user' to unlock their screen (CVE-2017-12164).
- Record
MGASA-2018-0056- Updated
- 2026-11-02
OSVopenSUSE-SU-2024:10780-1 No score
gdm-3.38.2-2.7 on GA media
These are all security issues fixed in the gdm-3.38.2-2.7 package on the GA media of openSUSE Tumbleweed.
- Record
openSUSE-SU-2024:10780-1- Updated
- 2026-11-02
Affected products
Affected packages
History
| Recorded | Changed | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| affected, facts | ||
| aliases, products | EUVD | |
| first indexed | CVE List, GitHub Advisories, NVD, OSV |
Dates are when Every CVE recorded each change. Upstream dates may differ.
In short
CVE-2017-12164 is a medium vulnerability (CVSS 4.1) in Gnome Gdm, published January 3, 2018. No source lists public exploit code. EPSS puts the chance of exploitation in the next 30 days at 0.39%, the 32nd percentile. Fixed in gdm3 3.26.0-1.