A buffer overflow issue was discovered in the Yubico-Piv 1.5.0 smartcard driver. The file lib/ykpiv.c contains the following code in the function `ykpiv_transfer_data()`: {% highlight c %} if(*out_len + recv_len - 2 > max_out) { fprintf(stderr, "Output buffer to small, wanted to write %lu, max was %lu.", *out_len + recv_len - 2, max_out); } if(out_data) { memcpy(out_data, data, recv_len - 2); out_data += recv_len - 2; *out_len += recv_len - 2; } {% endhighlight %} -- it is clearly checked whether the buffer is big enough to hold the data copied using `memcpy()`, but no error handling happens to avoid the `memcpy()` in such cases. This code path can be triggered with malicious data coming from a smartcard.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2018-14779 is rated Moderate Risk (40.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.49%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
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 | 0.15% | 0.49% | +0.34% |
| 2 | 2025-07-16 | 0.17% | 0.15% | -0.02% |
| 3 | 2025-03-30 | — | 0.17% | — |
Full EPSS history (6 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.8 | 3.0 | MEDIUM |
|
0.9 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 7.2 | 2.0 | HIGH |
|
3.9 | 10.0 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
debian
|
low | CVE-2018-14779 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (yubico-piv-tool), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-14779 |
suse
|
high | CVE-2018-14779 severity important: SUSE including 33 source package names (libykcs11-1, libykcs11-1-1.5.0-3.16, …), 119 product×package rows across 29 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (29 product lines)): Fixed 69, Known Not Affected 50. | https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-14779/ |
ubuntu
|
high | CVE-2018-14779 high priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (yubico-piv-tool), 12 status rows across 12 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 6, released 3, ignored 2, DNE 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-14779 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| yubico | piv_manager | < 1.4.2 | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2 | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2b | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2b:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2c | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2c:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2d | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2d:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2e | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2e:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2f | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2f:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_manager | 1.4.2g | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_manager:1.4.2g:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | piv_tool | < 1.6.0 | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:piv_tool:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| yubico | smart_card_minidriver | <= 3.7.3.160 | cpe:2.3:a:yubico:smart_card_minidriver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/08/14/2 | Mailing List Third Party Advisory |
| https://usn.ubuntu.com/4276-1/ | |
| https://www.x41-dsec.de/lab/advisories/x41-2018-001-Yubico-Piv/ | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.yubico.com/support/security-advisories/ysa-2018-03/ | Vendor Advisory |