# CVE-2018-14679: Denial of service in n/a

> An off-by-one error in libmspack allows attackers to cause a denial of service via uninitialized data dereference.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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:** Over the internet
- **Victim action needed:** A user has to click or open something
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 28 Jul 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2018-14679, DEBIAN-CVE-2018-14679, GHSA-jrp9-m5qh-vr83, SUSE-SU-2021:14850-1, SUSE-SU-2021:3853-1, SUSE-SU-2021:3859-1, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-14679

## What is CVE-2018-14679?

CVE-2018-14679 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 28 Jul 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

### Official description

An issue was discovered in mspack/chmd.c in libmspack before 0.7alpha. There is an off-by-one error in the CHM PMGI/PMGL chunk number validity checks, which could lead to denial of service (uninitialized data dereference and application crash).

Weakness: CWE-193 (Off-by-one Error)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-14679?

It affects 8 products.


| Package | Ecosystem | Affected | Fixed in |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| `clamav` | SUSE:HPE Helion OpenStack 8 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Point of Sale 11 SP3 | All versions | 0.103.4-0.20.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4-LTSS | All versions | 0.103.4-0.20.41.1 |
| `clamav-openssl1` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11-SECURITY | All versions | 0.103.4-0.20.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP2-BCL | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-BCL | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP3-LTSS | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP4-LTSS | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5 | All versions | 0.103.4-3.12.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP3 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP4 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5 | All versions | 0.103.4-3.12.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 8 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud 9 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 8 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |
| `clamav` | SUSE:OpenStack Cloud Crowbar 9 | All versions | 0.103.4-33.41.1 |

Products: Cabextract Libmspack, Cabextract Project Cabextract, Canonical Ubuntu Linux, Debian Debian Linux, Redhat Ansible Tower, Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop, Redhat Enterprise Linux Server, Redhat Enterprise Linux Workstation.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-14679?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-14679 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-14679 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Canonical Ubuntu Linux

- [CVE-2018-14681](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14681/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-14682](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14682/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-14680](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14680/): Other in n/a (medium 6.5)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-14679 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-14679 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Canonical Ubuntu Linux, published on 28 Jul 2018. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-14679 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-2018-14679/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14679/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-14679
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-14679
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-14679

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14679/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.