CVE-2018-5388

In stroke_socket.c in strongSwan before 5.6.3, a missing packet length check could allow a buffer underflow, which may lead to resource exhaustion and denial of service while reading from the socket.

Published: 2018-05-31 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-5388 is rated Moderate Risk (56.7/100): CVSS Medium severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 4.00%). 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-2018-5388

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 2026-05-27 4.30% 4.00% -0.30%
2 2025-12-28 4.02% 4.30% +0.28%
3 2025-12-27 — 4.02% —

Full EPSS history (22 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-5388

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
6.5 3.0 MEDIUM
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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:N)
Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful 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 3.6 [email protected]
4.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:S/C:N/I:N/A:P 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:S)
A single authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N)
No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-5388

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-5388

vendor priority summary link
alpine medium CVE-2018-5388: 1 source package rows (strongswan); 15 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 5. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-5388
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-5388 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (strongswan), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-5388
gentoo normal CVE-2018-5388: 1 GLSA(s) (201811-16), 1 atom(s) (net-vpn/strongswan); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-5388
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-5388
suse medium CVE-2018-5388 severity moderate: SUSE including 77 source package names (strongswan-4.4.0-6.36.6.1, strongswan-5.1.3-26.13.1, …), 173 product×package rows across 37 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, SUSE Enterprise Storage 5, … (37 product lines)): Fixed 173. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-5388/
ubuntu low CVE-2018-5388 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (strongswan), 5 status rows across 5 suites (artful, bionic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4, ignored 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-5388

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-5388

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
strongswan strongswan < 5.6.3 cpe:2.3:a:strongswan:strongswan:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-5388

cvelogic Threat Intelligence