CVE-2018-18689

The Portable Document Format (PDF) specification does not provide any information regarding the concrete procedure of how to validate signatures. Consequently, a Signature Wrapping vulnerability exists in multiple products. An attacker can use /ByteRange and xref manipulations that are not detected by the signature-validation logic. This affects Foxit Reader before 9.4 and PhantomPDF before 8.3.9 and 9.x before 9.4. It also affects eXpert PDF 12 Ultimate, Expert PDF Reader, Nitro Pro, Nitro Reader, PDF Architect 6, PDF Editor 6 Pro, PDF Experte 9 Ultimate, PDFelement6 Pro, PDF Studio Viewer 2018, PDF Studio Pro, PDF-XChange Editor and Viewer, Perfect PDF 10 Premium, Perfect PDF Reader, Soda PDF, and Soda PDF Desktop.

Published: 2021-01-07 Last update: 2024-11-27 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-18689 is rated Moderate Risk (55.8/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 3.69%). EPSS rose +3.68% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2018-18689

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 0.01% 3.69% +3.68%
2 2025-03-17 0.15% 0.01% -0.15%
3 2023-08-14 — 0.15% —

Full EPSS history (6 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-18689

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
5.3 3.1 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:L/I:N/A:N 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: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:L)
Some sensitive info could get out, but not a total data dump.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
 3.9 1.4 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-18689

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-18689

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
avanquest expert_pdf_ultimate 12.0.20 cpe:2.3:a:avanquest:expert_pdf_ultimate:12.0.20:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
avanquest pdf_experte_ultimate 9.0.270 cpe:2.3:a:avanquest:pdf_experte_ultimate:9.0.270:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
foxitsoftware foxit_reader 9.1.0 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:foxit_reader:9.1.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
foxitsoftware foxit_reader 9.2.0.9297 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:foxit_reader:9.2.0.9297:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
foxitsoftware foxit_reader 9.3.0.10826 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:foxit_reader:9.3.0.10826:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gonitro nitro_pro 11.0.3.173 cpe:2.3:a:gonitro:nitro_pro:11.0.3.173:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
gonitro nitro_reader 5.5.9.2 cpe:2.3:a:gonitro:nitro_reader:5.5.9.2:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
iskysoft pdf_editor_6 6.4.2.3521 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdf_editor_6:6.4.2.3521:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
iskysoft pdfelement6 6.8.0.3523 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdfelement6:6.8.0.3523:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
iskysoft pdfelement6 6.8.4.3921 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdfelement6:6.8.4.3921:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
pdf-xchange pdf-xchange_editor 7.0.237.1 cpe:2.3:a:pdf-xchange:pdf-xchange_editor:7.0.237.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pdf-xchange pdf-xchange_editor 7.0.326 cpe:2.3:a:pdf-xchange:pdf-xchange_editor:7.0.326:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pdfforge pdf_architect 6.0.37 cpe:2.3:a:pdfforge:pdf_architect:6.0.37:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
pdfforge pdf_architect 6.1.24.1862 cpe:2.3:a:pdfforge:pdf_architect:6.1.24.1862:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
qoppa pdf_studio 12.0.7 cpe:2.3:a:qoppa:pdf_studio:12.0.7:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
qoppa pdf_studio_viewer_2018 2018.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:qoppa:pdf_studio_viewer_2018:2018.0.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
qoppa pdf_studio_viewer_2018 2018.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:qoppa:pdf_studio_viewer_2018:2018.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sodapdf soda_pdf 9.3.17 cpe:2.3:a:sodapdf:soda_pdf:9.3.17:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sodapdf soda_pdf_desktop 10.2.09 cpe:2.3:a:sodapdf:soda_pdf_desktop:10.2.09:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
sodapdf soda_pdf_desktop 10.2.16.1217 cpe:2.3:a:sodapdf:soda_pdf_desktop:10.2.16.1217:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
soft-xpansion perfect_pdf_10 10.0.0.1 cpe:2.3:a:soft-xpansion:perfect_pdf_10:10.0.0.1:*:*:*:premium:*:*:*
soft-xpansion perfect_pdf_reader 13.0.3 cpe:2.3:a:soft-xpansion:perfect_pdf_reader:13.0.3:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
soft-xpansion perfect_pdf_reader 13.1.5 cpe:2.3:a:soft-xpansion:perfect_pdf_reader:13.1.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
tracker-software pdf-xchange_viewer 2.5 cpe:2.3:a:tracker-software:pdf-xchange_viewer:2.5:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
visagesoft expert_pdf_reader 9.0.180 cpe:2.3:a:visagesoft:expert_pdf_reader:9.0.180:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
foxitsoftware foxit_reader 9.2.0 cpe:2.3:a:foxitsoftware:foxit_reader:9.2.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
iskysoft pdf_editor_6 6.6.2.3315 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdf_editor_6:6.6.2.3315:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
iskysoft pdf_editor_6 6.7.6.3399 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdf_editor_6:6.7.6.3399:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
iskysoft pdfelement6 6.7.1.3355 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdfelement6:6.7.1.3355:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*
iskysoft pdfelement6 6.7.6.3399 cpe:2.3:a:iskysoft:pdfelement6:6.7.6.3399:*:*:*:professional:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-18689

cvelogic Threat Intelligence