Vulnerability Monitor

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CVE-2018-14598

An issue was discovered in XListExtensions in ListExt.c in libX11 through 1.6.5. A malicious server can send a reply in which the first string overflows, causing a variable to be set to NULL that will be freed later on, leading to DoS (segmentation fault).

Security Impact Summary

This vulnerability carries a HIGH severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 7.5, indicating it can be exploited remotely over the network with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 4 products from x.org, from canonical, from debian and 1 other, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.

Historical Context

First disclosed in 2018, this vulnerability was reported during a period defined by widespread IoT adoption challenges, mobile security concerns, and the emergence of advanced persistent threat (APT) techniques. Contemporary mitigation strategies focused on secure development practices and third-party component vetting.

Published

2018-08-24T19:29:01.377

Last Modified

2024-11-21T03:49:22.760

Status

Modified

Source

[email protected]

Severity

CVSSv3.0: 7.5 (HIGH)

CVSSv2 Vector

AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:N/I:N/A:P

Access Vector: NETWORK
Access Complexity: LOW
Authentication: NONE
Confidentiality Impact: NONE
Integrity Impact: NONE
Availability Impact: PARTIAL

Exploitability Score

10.0

Impact Score

2.9

Weaknesses

Type: Primary
CWE-20

Affected Vendors & Products

Type	Vendor	Product	Version/Range	Vulnerable?
Application	x.org	libx11	≤ 1.6.5	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	14.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	16.04	Yes
Operating System	canonical	ubuntu_linux	18.04	Yes
Operating System	debian	debian_linux	8.0	Yes
Operating System	fedoraproject	fedora	28	Yes

References

http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/08/21/6 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105177 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041543 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry ([email protected])
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2079 ([email protected])
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1102073 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/lib/libX11/commit/?id=e83722768fd5c467ef61fa159e8c6278770b45c2 Patch, Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/08/msg00030.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YGARUV66TS5OOSLR5A76BUB7SDV6GO4F/ ([email protected])
https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-announce/2018-August/002916.html Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-01 Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3758-1/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3758-2/ Third Party Advisory ([email protected])
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/08/21/6 Mailing List, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/105177 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
http://www.securitytracker.com/id/1041543 Third Party Advisory, VDB Entry (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2079 (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1102073 Issue Tracking, Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://cgit.freedesktop.org/xorg/lib/libX11/commit/?id=e83722768fd5c467ef61fa159e8c6278770b45c2 Patch, Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2018/08/msg00030.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/YGARUV66TS5OOSLR5A76BUB7SDV6GO4F/ (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://lists.x.org/archives/xorg-announce/2018-August/002916.html Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201811-01 Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3758-1/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3758-2/ Third Party Advisory (af854a3a-2127-422b-91ae-364da2661108)

How SecUtils Interprets This CVE

SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For x.org's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.