# CVE-2018-12886: Security feature bypass in n/a

> GCC compiler flaw allows attackers to bypass stack protector mitigations on ARM targets by controlling the stack canary comparison value.

- **Severity:** High 8.1 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:H/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** No
- **Published:** 22 May 2019
- **Updated:** 14 Oct 2026
- **Also known as:** GHSA-5mwp-7q9c-cgg2, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-12886

## What is CVE-2018-12886?

CVE-2018-12886 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 22 May 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

stack_protect_prologue in cfgexpand.c and stack_protect_epilogue in function.c in GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) 4.1 through 8 (under certain circumstances) generate instruction sequences when targeting ARM targets that spill the address of the stack protector guard, which allows an attacker to bypass the protection of -fstack-protector, -fstack-protector-all, -fstack-protector-strong, and -fstack-protector-explicit against stack overflow by controlling what the stack canary is compared against.

Weakness: CWE-209 (Generation of Error Message Containing Sensitive Information)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-12886?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Gnu Gcc.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-12886?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-12886 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

## Is CVE-2018-12886 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12886 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2002-2439](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2002-2439/): Integer overflow in the new[] operator in gcc before 4.8.0 allows attackers to have unspecified impacts. (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2019-15847](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-15847/): Weak cryptography in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2008-1367](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1367/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2008-1685](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2008-1685/): Integer overflow in n/a (medium 6.8)
- [CVE-2021-46195](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2021-46195/): Denial of service in n/a (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-12886 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-12886 is a high-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 22 May 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-12886 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: n/a. 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-2018-12886/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12886/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-12886
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-12886
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-12886

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-12886/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.