CVE-2017-15710: In Apache httpd 2.0.23 to 2.0.65, 2.2.0 to 2.2.34, and 2.4.0 to 2.4.29, mod_authnz_ldap, if configured with AuthLDAPCharsetConfig, uses the Accept-Language head

In Apache httpd 2.0.23 to 2.0.65, 2.2.0 to 2.2.34, and 2.4.0 to 2.4.29, mod_authnz_ldap, if configured with AuthLDAPCharsetConfig, uses the Accept-Language head

In Apache httpd 2.0.23 to 2.0.65, 2.2.0 to 2.2.34, and 2.4.0 to 2.4.29, mod_authnz_ldap, if configured with AuthLDAPCharsetConfig, uses the Accept-Language header value to lookup the right charset encoding when verifying the user's credentials. If the header value is not present in the charset conversion table, a fallback mechanism is used to truncate it to a two characters value to allow a quick retry (for example, 'en-US' is truncated to 'en'). A header value of less than two characters forces an out of bound write of one NUL byte to a memory location that is not part of the string. In the worst case, quite unlikely, the process would crash which could be used as a Denial of Service attack. In the more likely case, this memory is already reserved for future use and the issue has no effect at all.

Description from the National Vulnerability Database, published by security@apache.org

What it means for a small business

Apache HTTP Server runs on web servers, so this is mostly your hosting company's to fix. On shared hosting you can't patch it yourself, but you can ask.

Ask your host whether your server runs it, whether it's updated, and on what date. A good host answers that in a day.

How likely is an attack? The Exploit Prediction Scoring System, run by FIRST (the global association of security response teams), puts the odds of this one being exploited in the next 30 days at 17%, top 3% of all CVEs. That’s high: fix it ahead of everything else on the list. Scored October 31, 2026, updated daily.

Check your own setup

Website check: reads what your site runs from the outside (WordPress version, plugins it can see, old server software) and matches it against this database.
Server check: what your web server says about itself, and whether that version has known flaws.

Sources

Part of the Huttenlocher Technologies vulnerability database, refreshed twice a day from CISA and the NVD. The title, category and plain-language guidance are ours; check the linked record before acting on a detail. This is general guidance, not a review of your systems.

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