dbcve.org
FedoraOperating system · Fedoraproject

CVE-2015-8868

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2016-05-06
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
81/100
Remediation priority · High
No privileges

Official description Straight from the sourceThe vendor's or NVD's own wording, published unedited. Authoritative, but often terse — it says what broke, rarely what to do.

NVD · unedited
Heap-based buffer overflow in the ExponentialFunction::ExponentialFunction function in Poppler before 0.40.0 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (memory corruption and crash) or possibly execute arbitrary code via an invalid blend mode in the ExtGState dictionary in a crafted PDF document.

Technical summary Written by usOur analysis, written from the advisory, the CVSS vector and the affected-version data. It adds context the advisory leaves out, and never invents facts that are not in the source.

dbcve analysis · high confidence

Heap-based buffer overflow in Poppler's ExponentialFunction::ExponentialFunction function allows remote attackers to cause memory corruption and potential code execution via crafted PDF documents containing invalid blend mode in the ExtGState dictionary.

MitigationUpdate Poppler library to version 0.40.0 or later; implement input validation for PDF files and restrict processing of untrusted documents.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

Affected products & versions What the vendor confirmedThe version ranges the vendor confirmed as vulnerable. If your version sits inside a range here, treat yourself as exposed until you have upgraded.

NVD · CPE data
FedoraOperating system
Affected:= 23
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 12.04= 14.04= 15.10
PopplerApplication
Affected:= 0.39.0

CVSS breakdown How the score is builtThe industry scoring standard. It rates how the flaw is reached, what it takes to exploit, and what an attacker gains — the score is derived from those, not the other way round.

From the vector
Attack vector
Local
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
Required
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Am I affected? How to checkSteps we derive from the advisory and the affected-version data, so you can decide whether this CVE reaches your setup. They are a guide, not a scan — your own configuration is the authority.

dbcve checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify if Poppler library is installed
    Run 'pkg-config --modversion poppler' or check package manager: 'rpm -q poppler' (RHEL/Fedora) or 'dpkg -l poppler' (Debian/Ubuntu)
    Affected if Poppler is installed and version is 0.39.0 or lower
  2. Check Poppler utility versions
    Run 'pdftotext -v' or 'pdfinfo -v' to see which Poppler version the utilities are linked against
    Affected if Utilities report Poppler version 0.39.0 or lower
  3. Verify library file version
    Check the actual library file: 'rpm -qi poppler' or examine '/usr/lib/libpoppler.so*' file version with 'ls -la' and 'file'
    Affected if Library files are version 0.39.0 or earlier
  4. Confirm PDF processing capability exists
    Check for Poppler-based tools: 'which pdftotext' 'which pdfinfo' 'which pdfimages'
    Affected if Poppler-based PDF utilities are present on the system

The system is affected if Poppler library version 0.39.0 or earlier is installed and used to process PDF documents, as the heap overflow occurs when parsing invalid blend mode in ExtGState dictionary.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

Remediation Closing itWhat it takes to close this. Where a vendor fix exists we point at it; where none exists we say so plainly, and can build one. Effort estimates are scoped from the advisory, not from your codebase.

From vendor data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Update Poppler library to version 0.40.0 or later; implement input validation for PDF files and restrict processing of untrusted documents.

Fix this in Fedora Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
16.0 hours of engineering $2,680
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References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.

Primary sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2015-8868 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

A place for practitioners to share what actually worked: a mitigation you’ve tested, a configuration change, a version- or environment-specific caveat, or a link to a verified patch. The most useful notes rise to the top as peers upvote them, so the signal stays high.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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