CVE-2018-14779

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.

Published: 2018-08-15 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

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.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-14779

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)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-14779

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.8 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:P)
Hands-on access—USB, keyboard, opening the case—not something you do purely over the wire.
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:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
0.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.2 2.0 HIGH
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
3.9 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-14779

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-14779

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

Affected software / configurations for 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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-14779

cvelogic Threat Intelligence