CVE-2018-3839 Memory corruption in Simple DirectMedia

What is CVE-2018-3839?

CVE-2018-3839 is a high-severity memory corruption vulnerability in Debian Debian Linux, published on 10 Apr 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 exploitable code execution vulnerability exists in the XCF image rendering functionality of Simple DirectMedia Layer SDL2_image-2.0.2. A specially crafted XCF image can cause an out-of-bounds write on the heap, resulting in code execution. An attacker can display a specially crafted image to trigger this vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-787

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-3839?

It affects 3 products.

Products include Debian Debian Linux, Libsdl Sdl Image, Starwindsoftware Starwind Virtual San.

How do I fix CVE-2018-3839?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

Upgrade to the fixed version. Memory-safe languages, compiler hardening and fuzzing prevent most new cases. More about Memory corruption.

Is CVE-2018-3839 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3839 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Debian Debian Linux

• CVE-2015-3306 ProFTPD Improper Access Control Exploited Critical 10.0
• CVE-2025-49113 RoundCube Webmail Deserialization of Untrusted Data Exploited Critical 9.9
• CVE-2026-24061 GNU InetUtils Argument Injection Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2025-39682 Linux Kernel Improper Check for Unusual or Exceptional Conditions Exploited Critical 9.8
• CVE-2024-9680 Mozilla Firefox Use-After-Free Exploited Critical 9.8

All Debian Debian Linux vulnerabilities

Sources

• CVE record
• NVD
• OSV
• GitHub advisory
• How this page is made

Also known as ALPINE-CVE-2018-3839, DEBIAN-CVE-2018-3839, GHSA-g336-h8cj-mccg, UBUNTU-CVE-2018-3839.