CVE-2018-0739 | Constructed ASN.1 types with a recursive definition could exceed the stack

Constructed ASN.1 types with a recursive definition (such as can be found in PKCS7) could eventually exceed the stack given malicious input with excessive recursion. This could result in a Denial Of Service attack. There are no such structures used within SSL/TLS that come from untrusted sources so this is considered safe. Fixed in OpenSSL 1.1.0h (Affected 1.1.0-1.1.0g). Fixed in OpenSSL 1.0.2o (Affected 1.0.2b-1.0.2n).

Published: 2018-03-27 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2018-0739 is rated Moderate Risk (64.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 19.30%, 97th percentile). Core evidence: EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. EPSS rose +4.85% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. Mandatory action: High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-0739

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 14.45% 19.30% +4.85%
2 2026-03-23 11.27% 14.45% +3.17%
3 2026-03-04 11.27%

Full EPSS history (66 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-0739

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
2.8 3.6 [email protected]
4.3 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
8.6 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-0739

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-0739

vendor priority summary link
debian low CVE-2018-0739 low priority: Debian including 2 source packages (libtomcrypt, openssl), 10 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 10. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-0739
gentoo normal CVE-2018-0739: 2 GLSA(s) (201811-21, 202007-53), 2 atom(s) (dev-libs/openssl, net-misc/dropbear); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-0739
redhat medium https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-0739
suse medium CVE-2018-0739 severity moderate: SUSE including 529 source package names (0.9.1:libopenssl1_0_0-1.0.2j-60.24.1, 0.9.1:openssl-1.0.2j-60.24.1, …), 911 product×package rows across 113 product lines (Container caasp/v4/default-http-backend, Container caasp/v4/dnsmasq-nanny, … (113 product lines)): Fixed 519, Known Not Affected 235, Known Affected 157. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-0739/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-0739 medium priority: Ubuntu including 3 source packages (openssl, openssl098, openssl1.0), 21 status rows across 7 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 10, released 9, needs-triage 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-0739

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-0739

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
openssl openssl >= 1.0.2b, <= 1.0.2n cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
openssl openssl >= 1.1.0, <= 1.1.0g cpe:2.3:a:openssl:openssl:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 17.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:17.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 7.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-0739

URL Tags
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2018-3678067.html Patch Third Party Advisory
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2018-4258247.html
http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuoct2018-4428296.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/103518 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105609
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1040576 Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3090
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3221
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:3505
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0366
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:0367
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1711
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:1712
https://git.openssl.org/gitweb/?p=openssl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=2ac4c6f7b2b2af20c0e2b0ba05367e454cd11b33
https://git.openssl.org/gitweb/?p=openssl.git%3Ba=commitdiff%3Bh=9310d45087ae546e27e61ddf8f6367f29848220d
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/03/msg00033.html Third Party Advisory
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/march-2018-security-releases/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-21
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202007-53
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180330-0002/ Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20180726-0002/
https://securityadvisories.paloaltonetworks.com/Home/Detail/133
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3611-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3611-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4157 Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4158 Third Party Advisory
https://www.openssl.org/news/secadv/20180327.txt Vendor Advisory
https://www.oracle.com//security-alerts/cpujul2021.html
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpuapr2019-5072813.html
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujan2019-5072801.html
https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/security-advisory/cpujul2019-5072835.html
https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2018-04
https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2018-06
https://www.tenable.com/security/tns-2018-07
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