# CVE-2018-13457: Null dereference in n/a

> A local attacker can cause a denial of service in Nagios Core by sending a crafted payload to the UNIX socket, triggering a NULL pointer dereference.

- **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:** 12 Jul 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2018-13457, GHSA-6rvq-8cg9-gm39

## What is CVE-2018-13457?

CVE-2018-13457 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Jul 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

qh_echo in Nagios Core 4.4.1 and earlier is prone to a NULL pointer dereference vulnerability, which allows attackers to cause a local denial-of-service condition by sending a crafted payload to the listening UNIX socket.

Weakness: CWE-476 (NULL Pointer Dereference)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-13457?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Nagios Nagios Core.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-13457?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-13457 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-13457 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Public exploit code:

- Nagios Core 4.4.1 - Denial of Service (exploitdb)

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2020-35269](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2020-35269/): Cross-site request forgery in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-14312](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-14312/): Privilege escalation in n/a (high 7.8)
- [CVE-2018-13458](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-13458/): Null dereference in n/a (medium 5.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-13457 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-13457 is a medium-severity vulnerability in n/a, published on 12 Jul 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-2018-13457 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-2018-13457/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-13457/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-13457
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-13457
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-13457

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-13457/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.