Quantum Secular Labs / Blog / Advisories

CVE-2018-16842: Haxx Curl: Buffer overflow

CVE-2018-16842 is rated critical with a CVSS v3.0 base score of 9.1 and affects Haxx Curl, along with 2 other products in NVD’s configuration data. Per its scoring, it can be exploited over the network, without authentication, without any user interaction.

Vulnerability description

Curl versions 7.14.1 through 7.61.1 are vulnerable to a heap-based buffer over-read in the tool_msgs.c:voutf() function that may result in information exposure and denial of service.

Severity breakdown

CVSS v3.0 9.1: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:H

  • Attack vector: Network. Exploitable remotely over the network, with no need for local or physical access.
  • Attack complexity: Low. No special conditions; the attack can be repeated reliably.
  • Privileges required: None. No account or prior access is needed.
  • User interaction: None. No action from any user is needed.
  • Scope: Unchanged. Impact stays within the vulnerable component.
  • Confidentiality impact: High. Total loss of confidentiality; sensitive data can be fully disclosed.
  • Integrity impact: None. No loss of integrity.
  • Availability impact: High. Total loss of availability; the component can be shut down.

Underlying weakness

CWE-125: Out-of-bounds Read

The product reads data past the end, or before the beginning, of the intended buffer.

Affected products

  • Haxx Curl: from 7.14.1 up to and including 7.61.1
  • Canonical Ubuntu Linux: 12.04; 14.04; 16.04; 18.04; 18.10
  • Debian Linux: 8.0; 9.0

References