# CVE-2018-0202: Denial of service in ClamAV

> Remote attackers can cause a denial of service in ClamAV by sending crafted PDF files that trigger an out-of-bounds read during scanning.

- **Severity:** Medium 5.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 27 Mar 2018
- **Updated:** 2 Dec 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2018-0202, CLEANSTART-2026-CA69307, DEBIAN-CVE-2018-0202, GHSA-r382-prm5-5rqf, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-0202

## What is CVE-2018-0202?

CVE-2018-0202 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 27 Mar 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

clamscan in ClamAV before 0.99.4 contains a vulnerability that could allow an unauthenticated, remote attacker to cause a denial of service (DoS) condition on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to improper input validation checking mechanisms when handling Portable Document Format (.pdf) files sent to an affected device. An unauthenticated, remote attacker could exploit this vulnerability by sending a crafted .pdf file to an affected device. This action could cause an out-of-bounds read when ClamAV scans the malicious file, allowing the attacker to cause a DoS condition. This concerns pdf_parse_array and pdf_parse_string in libclamav/pdfng.c. Cisco Bug IDs: CSCvh91380, CSCvh91400.

Weakness: CWE-125 (Out-of-bounds Read)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-0202?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Clamav Clamav, Debian Debian Linux.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-0202?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-0202 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Security & Privacy in Computing(Fall 2018), Final Group Project at JHUISI, clamscan vulnerability in Cisco's ClamAV 0.99.3 (github_poc): https://github.com/automateforceai/CVE-2018-0202

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2020-11651](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-11651/): SaltStack Salt Authentication Bypass (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2020-7247](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-7247/): OpenSMTPD Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2019-16928](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-16928/): Exim Out-of-bounds Write (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2018-6789](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-6789/): Exim Buffer Overflow (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)
- [CVE-2015-2590](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2015-2590/): Oracle Java SE and Java SE Embedded Remote Code Execution (critical 9.8, exploited in the wild)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-0202 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-0202 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 27 Mar 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-0202 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Canonical Ubuntu Linux. No package-level version data is available, so check the vendor advisory linked from the reference page.

Task:
1. Search the dependency manifests and lockfiles (for example package.json, package-lock.json, requirements.txt, poetry.lock, uv.lock, pom.xml, build.gradle, go.mod, Cargo.lock, Gemfile.lock) and any Dockerfiles for the affected packages, including transitive dependencies.
2. If an affected version is in use, upgrade it to the fixed version for its release line with the project's package manager, so the lockfile is regenerated. Prefer the smallest upgrade that fixes it.
3. If there is no fix, or the upgrade would break the build, do not guess: explain the risk and the safest workaround instead.
4. Run the tests and summarise what changed and why.
5. If nothing in the project is affected, say so and change nothing.

Reference: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0202/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0202/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-0202
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-0202
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-0202

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From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-0202/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.