MAWK version 1.3.3-17 and prior contains a critical stack-based buffer overflow vulnerability (CVE-2017-20229) that enables remote code execution. The vulnerability stems from inadequate boundary checks on user-supplied input, allowing attackers to craft malicious input that overflows the stack buffer. Attackers can exploit this flaw to execute return-oriented programming (ROP) chains and spawn shells with application privileges. This represents a high-severity vulnerability affecting the MAWK AWK interpreter implementation. Public exploits are available on Exploit-DB, making this vulnerability particularly dangerous for systems running vulnerable MAWK versions.