CVE-2018-12096

The liblnk_data_string_get_utf8_string_size function in liblnk_data_string.c in liblnk through 2018-04-19 allows remote attackers to cause an information disclosure (heap-based buffer over-read) via a crafted lnk file. NOTE: the vendor has disputed this as described in libyal/liblnk issue 33 on GitHub

Published: 2018-06-19 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-12096 is rated Low Risk (37.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.60%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

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-2018-12096

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 0.10% 0.60% +0.50%
2 2025-03-30 0.19% 0.10% -0.09%
3 2025-03-29 — 0.19% —

Full EPSS history (8 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-12096

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 1.8 3.6 [email protected]
1.9 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
 3.4 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-12096

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-12096

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2018-12096 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (liblnk), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-12096
ubuntu low CVE-2018-12096 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (liblnk), 20 status rows across 20 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): ignored 10, not-affected 6, needs-triage 2, DNE 1, released 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-12096

Vendor comments (NVD) for CVE-2018-12096

  • liblnk (2018-08-10T09:30:16.427)

    For more information please visit https://github.com/libyal/liblnk/issues/33.

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-12096

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
liblnk_project liblnk <= 20180419 cpe:2.3:a:liblnk_project:liblnk:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-12096

URL Tags
http://seclists.org/fulldisclosure/2018/Jun/33 Mailing List Third Party Advisory
cvelogic Threat Intelligence