CVE-2019-18218

Exp

cdf_read_property_info in cdf.c in file through 5.37 does not restrict the number of CDF_VECTOR elements, which allows a heap-based buffer overflow (4-byte out-of-bounds write).

Published: 2019-10-21 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2019-18218 is rated High Exploit Risk (61.9/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.23%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). 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.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2019-18218

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2019-18218

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 2025-11-21 0.38% 0.23% -0.15%
2 2025-11-18 0.22% 0.38% +0.16%
3 2025-03-30 — 0.22% —

Full EPSS history (11 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2019-18218

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/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]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2019-18218

OS Trackers for CVE-2019-18218

vendor priority summary link
alpine critical CVE-2019-18218: 1 source package rows (file); 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-2019-18218
debian not yet assigned CVE-2019-18218 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (file), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-18218
gentoo normal CVE-2019-18218: 1 GLSA(s) (202003-24), 1 atom(s) (sys-apps/file); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2019-18218
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-18218
suse critical CVE-2019-18218 severity critical: SUSE including 791 source package names (0.0.17-1.1:file-5.32-7.8.1, 0.0.17-1.1:file-magic-5.32-7.8.1, …), 1998 product×package rows across 585 product lines (Container bci/bci-init, Container bci/bci-minimal, … (585 product lines)): Fixed 1838, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 3. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2019-18218/
ubuntu medium CVE-2019-18218 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (file), 6 status rows across 6 suites (bionic, disco, eoan, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 6. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2019-18218

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2019-18218

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
file_project file <= 5.37 cpe:2.3:a:file_project:file:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
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:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 10.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:10.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
opensuse leap 15.1 cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
netapp active_iq_unified_manager >= 7.3 cpe:2.3:a:netapp:active_iq_unified_manager:*:*:*:*:*:linux:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 29 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:29:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 30 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
fedoraproject fedora 31 cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:31:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 12.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:-:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.04:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 19.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:19.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2019-18218

URL Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2020-05/msg00044.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/oss-fuzz/issues/detail?id=16780 Exploit Issue Tracking Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/file/file/commit/46a8443f76cec4b41ec736eca396984c74664f84 Patch Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2019/10/msg00032.html Third Party Advisory
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2021/07/msg00008.html Mailing List Third Party Advisory
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/CV6PFCEYHYALMTT45QE2U5C5TEJZQPXJ/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/D6BJVGXSCC6NMIAWX36FPWHEIFON3OSE/
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/VBK6XOJR6OVWT2FUEBO7V7KCOSSLAP52/
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-24 Third Party Advisory
https://security.netapp.com/advisory/ntap-20200115-0001/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4172-1/ Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/4172-2/ Third Party Advisory
https://www.debian.org/security/2019/dsa-4550 Third Party Advisory
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