CVE-2018-3996 Use after free in Foxit PDF Reader

What is CVE-2018-3996?

CVE-2018-3996 is a high-severity use after free vulnerability in Foxitsoftware Phantompdf, published on 8 Oct 2018. Any signed-in user can exploit it over the network, and only if a user opens a file or follows a link.

Official description

An exploitable use-after-free vulnerability exists in the JavaScript engine of Foxit Software's PDF Reader, version 9.2.0.9297. A specially crafted PDF document can trigger a previously freed object in memory to be reused, resulting in arbitrary code execution. An attacker needs to trick the user to open the malicious file to trigger this vulnerability. If the browser plugin extension is enabled, visiting a malicious site can also trigger the vulnerability.

Weakness: CWE-416

Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-3996?

It affects 2 products.

Products include Foxitsoftware Phantompdf, Foxitsoftware Reader.

How do I fix CVE-2018-3996?

No fix has been published for CVE-2018-3996 yet. Limit exposure of the affected software until one is available.

Upgrade to the fixed version. These bugs are found with fuzzing and sanitisers and avoided by memory-safe languages. More about Use after free.

Is CVE-2018-3996 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-3996 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Other vulnerabilities in Foxitsoftware Phantompdf

• CVE-2018-21242 An issue was discovered in Foxit PhantomPDF before 8.3.6. Critical 9.8
• CVE-2018-21244 File upload in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-20825 Memory corruption in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-20827 Denial of service in n/a Critical 9.8
• CVE-2019-20830 Memory corruption in n/a Critical 9.8

All Foxitsoftware Phantompdf vulnerabilities

Sources

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

Also known as GHSA-grc6-wxfx-4522.