What is CVE-2017-1301?

CVE-2017-1301 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Spectrum Protect, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2017-10-05.

How severe is CVE-2017-1301?

Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.

Vulnerability in IBM Spectrum Protect

CVE-2017-1301

IBM Spectrum Protect 7.1 and 8.1 could allow a local attacker to launch a symlink attack. IBM Spectrum Protect Backup-archive Client creates temporary files insecurely. A local attacker could exploit this vulnerability by creating a symbolic link from a temporary file to various files on the system, which could allow the attacker to overwrite arbitrary files on the system with elevated privileges. IBM X-Force ID: 125163.

Published 2017-10-05 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 5.5 (Medium). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.004 (29.6th percentile), scored 2026-11-01.

Very low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days; routine patching cadence is appropriate. 30th percentile — 29.6% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.004 · newest: 0.004 · change: 0.000

Affected products

IBM Spectrum Protect — versions 8.1, 7.1
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager — versions 6.1, 6.1.0, 6.1.1

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-59 — Improper Link Resolution Before File Access

References

www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss (Patch, Vendor Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/101107 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)
exchange.xforce.ibmcloud.com/vulnerabilities/125163 (VDB Entry, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2017-1301?: CVE-2017-1301 is a medium-severity vulnerability in IBM Spectrum Protect, classified under Improper Link Resolution Before File Access. CVSS score: 5.5/10. Published 2017-10-05.
How severe is CVE-2017-1301?: Medium severity. CVSS v3 base score is 5.5 out of 10.