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Fencer Vulns
critical 9.8

CVE-2018-18751 json

An issue was discovered in GNU gettext 0.19.8

published 2018-10-28 8 y ago modified 2026-07-23 3 mo ago also EUVD-2018-10467 , JLSEC-2025-174

cvss
9.8
version 3.0, NVD
cisa kev
Not listed
not in CISA's catalog
epss
4.3%
EPSS 4.3% chance of exploitation in 30 days, percentile 91%
public exploits
0
none known

Summary

An issue was discovered in GNU gettext 0.19.8. There is a double free in default_add_message in read-catalog.c, related to an invalid free in po_gram_parse in po-gram-gen.y, as demonstrated by lt-msgfmt.

Patch / fix

  • julia Gettext_jll 0.20.1+1
  • gettext Debian 14, Debian 13, Debian 12 0.19.8.1-9

debian advisories DEBIAN-CVE-2018-18751

  • gettext Ubuntu 14.04 LTS 0.18.3.1-1ubuntu3.1
  • gettext Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 0.19.7-2ubuntu3.1
  • gettext Ubuntu 18.04 LTS 0.19.8.1-6ubuntu0.1

ubuntu advisories UBUNTU-CVE-2018-18751

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

  • gettext RHEL 8 0.19.8.1-17.el8
  • gettext-libs RHEL 8 0.19.8.1-17.el8
  • gettext RHEL 7 0.19.8.1-3.el7
  • gettext-libs RHEL 7 0.19.8.1-3.el7
  • emacs-gettext RHEL 7 0.19.8.1-3.el7
  • gettext RHEL 7.6 EUS 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
  • gettext-libs RHEL 7.6 EUS 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
  • emacs-gettext RHEL 7.6 EUS 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6

red hat advisories RHSA-2020:2846RHSA-2020:2485RHSA-2019:3643RHSA-2020:1138

  • gettext-runtime SLES for SAP 12 SP5, SLES 12 SP5 0.19.2-3.3.6
  • gettext-runtime SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP2, SLE Module for Basesystem 15 SP1 0.19.8.1-4.8.1

suse advisories SUSE-SU-2021:4060-1SUSE-SU-2020:2296-1

  • gettext-csharp Package Hub 15 SP1 0.19.8.1-bp151.2.1
  • gettext-runtime openSUSE Leap 15.2 0.19.8.1-lp152.6.3.1
  • gettext-java openSUSE Leap 15.2 0.19.8.1-lp152.6.3.1
  • gettext-csharp openSUSE Leap 15.2 0.19.8.1-lp152.6.3.1
  • gettext-runtime-mini openSUSE Leap 15.2 0.19.8.1-lp152.6.3.1
  • gettext-runtime openSUSE Leap 15.1 0.19.8.1-lp151.5.3.1
  • gettext-java openSUSE Leap 15.1 0.19.8.1-lp151.5.3.1
  • gettext-csharp openSUSE Leap 15.1 0.19.8.1-lp151.5.3.1

opensuse advisories openSUSE-SU-2020:1385-1openSUSE-SU-2020:1278-1openSUSE-SU-2020:1270-1

  • gettext AlmaLinux 8 0.19.8.1-17.el8
  • gettext-libs AlmaLinux 8 0.19.8.1-17.el8

almalinux advisories ALSA-2019:3643

  • gettext Rocky Linux 8 0.19.8.1-17.el8

rocky linux advisories RLSA-2019:3643

  • gettext Alpine 3.24, Alpine 3.23, Alpine 3.22 +11 more 0.20.1-r0

alpine advisories ALPINE-CVE-2018-18751

Alpine secdb © Alpine Linux, from https://secdb.alpinelinux.org via OSV; changed: normalised to fixed package versions per release. CC BY-SA 4.0

  • gettext Arch Linux 0.20.1-1

arch linux advisories AVG-885

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-2018-18751 updated cvss 4.0

gettext: double free in default_add_message in read-catalog.c

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 mingw32-gettext, mingw64-gettext
    affected: no fix available “Fix deferred”
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux BaseOS (v. 8) gettext 0.19.8.1-17.el8, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-17.el8
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2019:3643
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client (v. 7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Client Optional (v. 7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode (v. 7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1138
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.6) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2846
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode EUS (v. 7.7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_7, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2485
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional (v. 7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1138
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.6) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2846
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux ComputeNode Optional EUS (v. 7.7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2485
show 9 more
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server (v. 7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6 Red Hat Enterprise Linux for ARM and IBM Power LE (POWER9) Server Optional (v. 7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2846
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (v. 7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1138
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.6) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2846
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server EUS (v. 7.7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_7, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2485
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional (v. 7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1138
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.6) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_6
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2846
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server Optional EUS (v. 7.7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7_7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:2485
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation (v. 7) gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7, gettext-libs 0.19.8.1-3.el7 Red Hat Enterprise Linux Workstation Optional (v. 7) emacs-gettext 0.19.8.1-3.el7
    fixed: vendor fix RHSA-2020:1138
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 gettext Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 gettext, gettext-libs
    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

4.26% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 91% of all scored CVEs (FIRST EPSS, 2026-11-08).

Exploits and checks

  • github.com https://github.com/CCCCCrash/POCs/tree/master/Bin/Tools-gettext-0.19.8.1/heapcorruption referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified
  • github.com https://github.com/CCCCCrash/POCs/tree/master/Bin/Tools-gettext-0.19.8.1/doublefree referenced PoC, tagged "exploit" by a source, unverified

CVSS scores

assigned by version score vector
NVD 3.0 9.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
NVD 2.0 7.5 AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P
OSV 3.0 9.8 CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected packages

ecosystem package affected fixed in
julia Gettext_jll
<0.20.1+1
0.20.1+1

Classification

Weakness

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.