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No exploitation reportedFix available

CVE-2018-7166

No exploitation reported by the sources we read.

  • Published2018-08-21
  • Fixed in10.9.0
  • WeaknessCWE-226 · CWE-908

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

In all versions of Node.js 10 prior to 10.9.0, an argument processing flaw can cause `Buffer.alloc()` to return uninitialized memory. This method is intended to be safe and only return initialized, or cleared, memory. The third argument specifying `encoding` can be passed as a number, this is misinterpreted by `Buffer's` internal "fill" method as the `start` to a fill operation. This flaw may be abused where `Buffer.alloc()` arguments are derived from user input to return uncleared memory blocks that may contain sensitive information.

Timeline

dates in UTC
  1. 2018-08-2112:29CVE publishedNVD

Observed activity

isMalicious corpus · updated 2026-10-23 18:48 UTC
Indicators tagged with this CVE, per day0 indicators over 7 days
Block these indicators
  • Firewall list (EDL, text): https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2018-7166?format=txt
  • CSV export: https://api.ismalicious.com/edl/cve/CVE-2018-7166?format=csv
  • TAXII collection of exploited CVEs
  • The EDL and CSV take an API key on the Pro plan.

Versions per branch

NVD
Node.js
BranchAffectedFixed in
10.x≥ 10.0.0, < 10.9.010.9.0

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

Fix

  1. Update Node.js to 10.9.0

Advisories and patches

Detection

Nuclei template
none so far
ProjectDiscovery
Exploit-DB
no entry
Exploit-DB
Proof-of-concept repositories
none listed
PoC-in-GitHub

Sources

  • CISA-ADPSSVC decisionnone2026-10-08
  • OpenCVESSVC decisionnone—
  • NVDCVSS 3.17.5read 2026-10-23
  • NVDCVSS 2.05read 2026-10-23
  • CNAweakness (CWE)CWE-226read 2026-10-23
  • NVDweakness (CWE)CWE-908read 2026-10-23
  • FIRST EPSSEPSS score2.8 %2026-10-22

Technical details

CVSS v3 Vector
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N
Published
2018-08-21
Last Modified
2026-10-08
NVD status
Modified

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-7166?

In all versions of Node.js 10 prior to 10.9.0, an argument processing flaw can cause `Buffer.alloc()` to return uninitialized memory. This method is intended to be safe and only return initialized, or cleared, memory. The third argument specifying `encoding` can be passed as a number, this is misinterpreted by `Buffer's` internal "fill" method as the `start` to a fill operation. This flaw may be abused where `Buffer.alloc()` arguments are derived from user input to return uncleared memory blocks that may contain sensitive information.

Is CVE-2018-7166 actively exploited?

Active exploitation of CVE-2018-7166 has not been confirmed. Its EPSS score was 2.8% on 2026-10-22, the estimated probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What is the CVSS score for CVE-2018-7166?

CVE-2018-7166 has a CVSS v3 base score of 7.5 (HIGH severity), with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

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