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Fencer Vulns
high 7.8

CVE-2018-17407 json

An issue was discovered in t1_check_unusual_charstring functions in writet1.c files in TeX Live before 2018-09-21.

published 2018-09-23 8 y ago modified 2026-06-17 4 mo ago also EUVD-2018-9161

cvss
7.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
2.1%
EPSS 2.1% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 81%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

An issue was discovered in t1_check_unusual_charstring functions in writet1.c files in TeX Live before 2018-09-21. A buffer overflow in the handling of Type 1 fonts allows arbitrary code execution when a malicious font is loaded by one of the vulnerable tools: pdflatex, pdftex, dvips, or luatex.

Patch / fix

  • tug tex_live 2018-09-21
  • texlive-bin Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 2018.20180907.48586-2

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-17407

  • texlive-bin Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 2013.20130729.30972-2ubuntu0.1
  • texlive-bin Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 2015.20160222.37495-1ubuntu0.1
  • texlive-bin Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 2017.20170613.44572-8ubuntu0.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-17407

Ubuntu security data © Canonical Ltd., from https://github.com/canonical/ubuntu-security-notices via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • texlive RHEL 7 2:2012-45.20130427_r30134.el7
  • texlive-ae RHEL 7 2:svn15878.1.4-45.el7
  • texlive-cm RHEL 7 2:svn29581.0-45.el7
  • texlive-ec RHEL 7 2:svn25033.1.0-45.el7
  • texlive-fp RHEL 7 2:svn15878.0-45.el7
  • texlive-lm RHEL 7 2:svn28119.2.004-45.el7
  • texlive-mh RHEL 7 2:svn29420.0-45.el7
  • texlive-ms RHEL 7 2:svn24467.0-45.el7

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:1036

  • texlive SLES 12 SP3, SLES 12 SP2-BCL, SLED 12 SP3 +9 more 2013.20130620-22.3.1
  • texlive SLE Module for Desktop Applications 15 2017.20170520-11.8.4

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2018:3033-3SUSE-SU-2018:3033-2SUSE-SU-2018:3122-1SUSE-SU-2018:3033-1

  • texlive openSUSE Tumbleweed 2021.20210325.svn34398-76.3

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2024:11431-1

  • texlive-bin Arch Linux 2018.48691-1

arch linux advisories AVG-770

Vendor advisories

What the vendors themselves say about their products: affected, fixed or not affected, and what to do.

red hat product security vex CVE-2018-17407 updated cvss 7.0

texlive: Buffer overflow in t1_check_unusual_charstring function in writet1.c

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 mendexk, texlive, kpathsea, texlive-afm, texlive-dvips, texlive-latex, +5 more
    affected: no fix planned “Will not fix”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) texlive-cm svn29581.0-45.el7, texlive-fp svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-mh svn29420.0-45.el7, texlive-ms svn24467.0-45.el7, texlive-rcs svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-ae svn15878.1.4-45.el7, +220 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) texlive-t2 svn29349.0-45.el7, texlive-cns svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-uhc svn16791.0-45.el7, texlive-was svn21439.0-45.el7, texlive-ptext svn28124.1-45.el7, texlive-arphic svn15878.0-45.el7, +78 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) texlive-cm svn29581.0-45.el7, texlive-fp svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-mh svn29420.0-45.el7, texlive-ms svn24467.0-45.el7, texlive-t2 svn29349.0-45.el7, texlive-cns svn15878.0-45.el7, +304 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) texlive-cm svn29581.0-45.el7, texlive-fp svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-mh svn29420.0-45.el7, texlive-ms svn24467.0-45.el7, texlive-rcs svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-ae svn15878.1.4-45.el7, +220 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) texlive-t2 svn29349.0-45.el7, texlive-cns svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-uhc svn16791.0-45.el7, texlive-was svn21439.0-45.el7, texlive-ptext svn28124.1-45.el7, texlive-arphic svn15878.0-45.el7, +78 more Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) texlive-cm svn29581.0-45.el7, texlive-fp svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-mh svn29420.0-45.el7, texlive-ms svn24467.0-45.el7, texlive-rcs svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-ae svn15878.1.4-45.el7, +220 more
    +1 more products
    Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) texlive-t2 svn29349.0-45.el7, texlive-cns svn15878.0-45.el7, texlive-uhc svn16791.0-45.el7, texlive-was svn21439.0-45.el7, texlive-ptext svn28124.1-45.el7, texlive-arphic svn15878.0-45.el7, +78 more
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1036
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 texlive, texlive-ae, texlive-cm, texlive-ec, texlive-fp, texlive-lm, +311 more
    not affected: vulnerable code not present

Red Hat CSAF VEX © Red Hat, Inc., from https://security.access.redhat.com/data/csaf/v2/vex/; changed: reduced to product statuses and remediations. CC BY 4.0 · csaf

Exploit prediction

2.08% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 81% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 7.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 6.8 AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P

Classification

Weakness
  • CWE-119 Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

Sources

Fencer Vulns keeps one entry per vulnerability: the CVE id wins, then GHSA, and records that alias each other are merged, except that two CVEs always keep separate entries. The same data is available as JSON.