# CVE-2018-20030: Denial of service in libexif

> Attackers can exhaust CPU resources by sending crafted EXIF tags to applications using libexif, causing a denial of service.

- **Severity:** High 7.5 (`CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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:** Not needed
- **Fix available:** Yes
- **Published:** 20 Feb 2019
- **Updated:** 17 Sep 2024
- **Also known as:** ALPINE-CVE-2018-20030, DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20030, GHSA-9fxq-h6qr-qghc, MGASA-2019-0095, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-20030

## What is CVE-2018-20030?

CVE-2018-20030 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Flexera Software LLC libexif, published on 20 Feb 2019. An attacker can exploit it over the internet without logging in, with no action from the victim.

### Official description

An error when processing the EXIF_IFD_INTEROPERABILITY and EXIF_IFD_EXIF tags within libexif version 0.6.21 can be exploited to exhaust available CPU resources.

Weakness: CWE-400 (Uncontrolled Resource Consumption)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-20030?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Libexif Project Libexif.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-20030?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-20030 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-20030 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Flexera Software LLC libexif

- [CVE-2017-7544](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-7544/): Information disclosure in libexif (critical 9.1)
- [CVE-2012-2814](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2814/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2012-2840](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2840/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2012-2841](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2012-2841/): Integer overflow in n/a (high 7.5)
- [CVE-2026-32775](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2026-32775/): Integer overflow in libexif (high 7.4)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-20030 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-20030 is a high-severity denial of service vulnerability in Flexera Software LLC libexif, published on 20 Feb 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-2018-20030 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Flexera Software LLC libexif. 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-2018-20030/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20030/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-20030
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-20030
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-20030

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-20030/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.