CVE-2018-9838

The caml_ba_deserialize function in byterun/bigarray.c in the standard library in OCaml 4.06.0 has an integer overflow which, in situations where marshalled data is accepted from an untrusted source, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption) or possibly execute arbitrary code via a crafted object.

Published: 2018-04-06 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-9838 is rated High Risk (67.8/100): CVSS Critical severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 8.12%, 92th percentile). EPSS ranks this CVE among the most likely to be exploited in the near term. High exploitation likelihood—assess exposure and prioritize 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-2018-9838

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 2026-04-13 11.73% 8.12% -3.62%
2 2026-03-25 3.59% 11.73% +8.14%
3 2025-12-03 — 3.59% —

Full EPSS history (17 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-9838

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
9.8 3.0 CRITICAL
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/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: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: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.
 3.9 5.9 [email protected]
7.5 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:L/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:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
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.
 10.0 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-9838

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-9838

vendor priority summary link
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-9838 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (ocaml), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-9838
gentoo normal CVE-2018-9838: 1 GLSA(s) (202007-48), 1 atom(s) (dev-lang/ocaml); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-9838
redhat low — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-9838
suse high CVE-2018-9838 severity important: SUSE including 35 source package names (ocaml, ocaml-4.02.1-4.6.1, …), 107 product×package rows across 26 product lines (SUSE CaaS Platform 4.0, SUSE Enterprise Storage 6, … (26 product lines)): Fixed 62, Known Not Affected 45. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-9838/
ubuntu low CVE-2018-9838 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (ocaml), 15 status rows across 15 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, eoan, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 8, released 4, ignored 3. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-9838

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-9838

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
ocaml ocaml 4.06.0 cpe:2.3:a:ocaml:ocaml:4.06.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-9838

cvelogic Threat Intelligence