CVE-2018-17407 [High] | Memory Corruption in Tex Live

An issue was discovered in t1_check_unusual_charstring functions in writet1.c files in TeX Live before 2018-09-21. A buffer overflow in the handling of Type 1 fonts allows arbitrary code execution when a malicious font is loaded by one of the vulnerable tools: pdflatex, pdftex, dvips, or luatex.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	1.36%	2.07%	+0.71%
2	2025-11-21	0.91%	1.36%	+0.45%
3	2025-11-18	—	0.91%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

1.36%

2.07%

+0.71%

2025-11-21

0.91%

1.36%

+0.45%

2025-11-18

—

0.91%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.8	3.0	HIGH	`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H` 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: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.	1.8	5.9	[email protected]
6.8	2.0	MEDIUM	`AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:P) Partial integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	8.6	6.4	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.8

3.0

HIGH

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H 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: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.

1.8

5.9

[email protected]

6.8

2.0

MEDIUM

AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/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:P): Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

8.6

6.4

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-17407

vendor	priority	summary	link
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2018-17407 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (texlive-bin), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-17407
`redhat`	medium	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-17407
`suse`	high	CVE-2018-17407 severity important: SUSE including 1838 source package names (libkpathsea6-6.2.0dev-22.3.1, libkpathsea6-6.2.3-11.8.4, …), 3309 product×package rows across 41 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, SUSE Liberty Linux 7, … (41 product lines)): Fixed 3291, Known Not Affected 18.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-17407/
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2018-17407 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (texlive-bin), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, cosmic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-17407

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-17407

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
tug	tex_live	< 2018-09-21	cpe:2.3:a:tug:tex_live::::::::
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	18.04	cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04::::lts:::
canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.10	cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:::::::*
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-2018-17407

URL	Tags
https://github.com/TeX-Live/texlive-source/commit/6ed0077520e2b0da1fd060c7f88db7b2e6068e4c	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2018/msg00230.html	Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3788-1/	Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3788-2/	Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4299	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2018-17407

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-17407

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-17407

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-17407

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-17407

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-17407

References for CVE-2018-17407