# CVE-2018-9303: Denial of service in n/a

> An attacker can cause a denial of service via an assertion failure in Exiv2 when processing malicious BigTIFF images.

- **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:** 4 Apr 2018
- **Updated:** 5 Aug 2024
- **Also known as:** GHSA-78r6-w4c8-vpmp

## What is CVE-2018-9303?

CVE-2018-9303 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Exiv2 Exiv2, published on 4 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

In Exiv2 0.26, an assertion failure in BigTiffImage::readData in bigtiffimage.cpp results in an abort.

Weakness: CWE-617 (Reachable Assertion)

## Which versions are affected by CVE-2018-9303?

It affects 1 product.


Products: Exiv2 Exiv2.

## How do I fix CVE-2018-9303?

Upgrade to a fixed version.

## Is CVE-2018-9303 being exploited?

There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-9303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

## Other vulnerabilities in Exiv2 Exiv2

- [CVE-2023-44398](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2023-44398/): Out-of-bounds write in exiv2 (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-9143](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9143/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2019-9144](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2019-9144/): Denial of service in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2018-14046](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-14046/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)
- [CVE-2017-12955](https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2017-12955/): Memory corruption in n/a (high 8.8)

## Fix prompt for AI coding agents

```text
Check this codebase for CVE-2018-9303 and fix it if it is affected.

What it is: CVE-2018-9303 is a medium-severity denial of service vulnerability in Exiv2 Exiv2, published on 4 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.
Exploitation: There is no known exploitation of CVE-2018-9303 in the wild and no public exploit code.

Affected product: Exiv2 Exiv2. 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-2018-9303/ (Markdown: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-9303/index.md)
```

## Sources

- CVE record: https://www.cve.org/CVERecord?id=CVE-2018-9303
- NVD: https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-9303
- OSV: https://osv.dev/vulnerability/CVE-2018-9303

---
From sbomify Insights: https://insights.sbomify.com/CVE-2018-9303/
Summaries are generated and may contain mistakes; the official description above is the record.