CVE-2018-16790

_bson_iter_next_internal in bson-iter.c in libbson 1.12.0, as used in MongoDB mongo-c-driver and other products, has a heap-based buffer over-read via a crafted bson buffer.

Published: 2018-09-10 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-16790 is rated Moderate Risk (60.1/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.05%). 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-2018-16790

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 2026-06-17 1.91% 2.05% +0.15%
2 2026-06-15 0.66% 1.91% +1.24%
3 2026-06-02 — 0.66% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-16790

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
8.1 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/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:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big 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 5.2 [email protected]
5.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/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:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 4.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-16790

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-16790

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-16790 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 2 source packages (libbson-xs-perl, mongo-c-driver), 7 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 7. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-16790
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16790
suse medium — https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-16790/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-16790 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (libbson), 14 status rows across 14 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): DNE 10, released 2, ignored 1, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-16790

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-16790

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
mongodb libbson 1.12.0 cpe:2.3:a:mongodb:libbson:1.12.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-16790

cvelogic Threat Intelligence