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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2018-17294

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2018-09-21
  • Fixed in3.7.0
  • WeaknessCWE-125

Am I affected?

With a domain, we read the version its public headers and pages expose. A distribution build can carry the fix under an older number.

Description

The matchCurrentInput function inside lou_translateString.c of Liblouis prior to 3.7 does not check the input string's length, allowing attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash via out-of-bounds read) by crafting an input file with certain translation dictionaries.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2018-09-2107:29CVE publishedNVD

Versions per branch

NVD
Liblouis
BranchAffectedFixed in
3.7< 3.7.03.7.0
Canonical ubuntu linux
BranchAffectedFixed in
14.4= 14.04no fix published
16.4= 16.04no fix published
18.4= 18.04no fix published
Opensuse leap
BranchAffectedFixed in
15.0= 15.0no fix published

as publishedRanges as NVD and OSV publish them; a distribution’s build can be fixed under an older number.

Distribution builds and vendor advisories

Packages from OSV.dev and products from the vendors' CSAF advisories.

version not verifiedVersions not verified: read as OSV.dev and the vendors publish them, not checked against each vendor's release list.

Packages

  • liblouisUbuntu:18.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 3.5.0-1ubuntu0.3
  • liblouisUbuntu:16.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2.6.4-2ubuntu0.4
  • liblouisUbuntu:14.04:LTSall versions · fixed in 2.5.3-2ubuntu1.5
  • liblouisSUSE:Linux Enterprise Software Development Kit 12 SP5all versions · fixed in 2.6.4-6.9.24
  • liblouisSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 12 SP5all versions · fixed in 2.6.4-6.9.24
  • liblouisSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server for SAP Applications 11 SP4all versions · fixed in 1.7.0-1.3.16.1and 1 other package
  • liblouisSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 12 SP5all versions · fixed in 2.6.4-6.9.24
  • liblouisSUSE:Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP4all versions · fixed in 1.7.0-1.3.16.1and 1 other package

9 more package ranges on OSV.dev

Vendor advisories

  • CVE-2018-17294 Red Hat Product Security3 known affected

    liblouis: Stack-based buffer over-read in matchCurrentInput function lou_translateString.c

    liblouis as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · liblouis.src as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 · python3-louis as a component of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8

Full record on NVD

Fix

  1. Update Liblouis to 3.7.0
  2. No fix available, says the vendor Red Hat Product Security CVE-2018-17294 · 3 productsFix deferred

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof of concept
Metasploit modules
none listed
Metasploit Framework

Sources

Identifiers

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H
Published
2018-09-21
Last Modified
2026-06-17
NVD status
Modified
GitHub Advisory
GHSA-xg7f-9m4r-jh69

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-17294?

The matchCurrentInput function inside lou_translateString.c of Liblouis prior to 3.7 does not check the input string's length, allowing attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash via out-of-bounds read) by crafting an input file with certain translation dictionaries.

Is CVE-2018-17294 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-17294 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.7% on 2026-11-08, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-17294?

CVE-2018-17294 has a CVSS v3 base score of 6.5 (MEDIUM severity), with vector string CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H.

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