There is a stack-based buffer overflow in the third instance of the calculate_gain function in libfaad/sbr_hfadj.c in Freeware Advanced Audio Decoder 2 (FAAD2) 2.8.8. A crafted input will lead to a denial of service or possibly unspecified other impact because the S_M array is mishandled.
Conclusion & alert: CVE-2018-20196 is rated High Exploit Risk (66.5/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.36%). Core evidence: 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Mandatory action: Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.
Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.
| EDB-ID | Source | Kind | Published | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | nvd_ref | exploit_tag | Exploit-DB ↗ |
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 | 2026-05-26 | 0.33% | 0.36% | +0.02% |
| 2 | 2025-11-21 | 0.39% | 0.33% | -0.05% |
| 3 | 2025-05-04 | — | 0.39% | — |
Full EPSS history (10 records total)
CVSS metrics for this CVE.
| Base score | Version | Severity | Vector | Exploitability | Impact | Score source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.8 | 3.1 | HIGH |
|
1.8 | 5.9 | [email protected] |
| 6.8 | 2.0 | MEDIUM |
|
8.6 | 6.4 | [email protected] |
| vendor | priority | summary | link |
|---|---|---|---|
alpine
|
high | CVE-2018-20196: 1 source package rows (faad2); 9 state rows across 9 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 9, open 0. | https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-20196 |
debian
|
low | CVE-2018-20196 low priority: Debian including 1 source packages (faad2), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. | https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-20196 |
gentoo
|
normal | CVE-2018-20196: 1 GLSA(s) (202006-17), 1 atom(s) (media-libs/faad2); latest impact normal. | https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-20196 |
ubuntu
|
medium | CVE-2018-20196 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (faad2), 19 status rows across 19 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 13, ignored 2, needed 2, deferred 1, released 1. | https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-20196 |
| Vendor | Product | Version | Raw CPE |
|---|---|---|---|
| audiocoding | freeware_advanced_audio_decoder_2 | 2.8.8 | cpe:2.3:a:audiocoding:freeware_advanced_audio_decoder_2:2.8.8:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 8.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| debian | debian_linux | 10.0 | cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:* |
| URL | Tags |
|---|---|
| https://github.com/knik0/faad2/issues/19 | Exploit Vendor Advisory |
| https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/08/msg00033.html | Mailing List Third Party Advisory |
| https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202006-17 | Third Party Advisory |
| https://www.debian.org/security/2022/dsa-5109 | Third Party Advisory |