# CVE-2018-14779: Memory corruption in n/a

> A buffer overflow in the Yubico PIV smartcard driver allows attackers to execute arbitrary code or cause denial of service via malicious smartcard data.

- **Severity:** Medium 6.8 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:P/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H`)
- **Exploited in the wild:** Not known
- **Login needed:** Not needed
- **Attackable:** Local or same network only
- **Victim action needed:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 15 Aug 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** DEBIAN-CVE-2018-14779, GHSA-rvwc-p7mj-cmgq, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-14779

## What is CVE-2018-14779?

CVE-2018-14779 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 15 Aug 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

A buffer overflow issue was discovered in the Yubico-Piv 1.5.0 smartcard driver. The file lib/ykpiv.c contains the following code in the function `ykpiv_transfer_data()`: {% highlight c %} if(*out_len + recv_len - 2 > max_out) { fprintf(stderr, "Output buffer to small, wanted to write %lu, max was %lu.", *out_len + recv_len - 2, max_out); } if(out_data) { memcpy(out_data, data, recv_len - 2); out_data += recv_len - 2; *out_len += recv_len - 2; } {% endhighlight %} -- it is clearly checked whether the buffer is big enough to hold the data copied using `memcpy()`, but no error handling happens to avoid the `memcpy()` in such cases. This code path can be triggered with malicious data coming from a smartcard.

Weakness: CWE-787 (Out-of-bounds Write), CWE-119 (Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-14779?

It affects 3 products.


Products: Yubico Piv Manager, Yubico Piv Tool, Yubico Smart Card Minidriver.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-14779?

Apply the vendor's patch.

## Is CVE-2018-14779 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-14779 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in n/a

- [CVE-2018-14780](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14780/): Memory corruption in n/a (medium 4.6)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-14779 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-14779 is a medium-severity memory corruption vulnerability in n/a, published on 15 Aug 2018. It can only be exploited from the same machine or local network, with no action from the victim.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-14779 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-2018-14779/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14779/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-14779
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-14779
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-14779

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14779/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.