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Debian LinuxOperating system · Debian

CVE-2018-1000637

HIGH · 7.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-08-20
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.8 or later.
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
zutils version prior to version 1.8-pre2 contains a Buffer Overflow vulnerability in zcat that can result in Potential denial of service or arbitrary code execution. This attack appear to be exploitable via the victim openning a crafted compressed file. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in 1.8-pre2.

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 · moderate confidence

A buffer overflow vulnerability exists in zcat (part of the zutils utility suite) that can be triggered when processing a maliciously crafted compressed file. The overflow occurs during file decompression, potentially allowing an attacker to overwrite memory and cause denial of service or achieve arbitrary code execution on the vulnerable system.

MitigationUpgrade zutils to version 1.8-pre2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Until upgrades are applied, avoid opening untrusted or unknown compressed files with zcat.

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
Debian LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 8.0
ZutilsApplication
Affected:<= 1.8= 1.8

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. Verify zcat or zutils is installed
    Run 'which zcat' or 'dpkg -l | grep zutils' on Debian systems
    Affected if zcat or zutils package is present on the system
  2. Determine installed zutils version
    Run 'zcat --version' or 'dpkg -s zutils' to retrieve the exact version number
    Affected if The reported version is 1.8 or any version <= 1.8 (including unversioned packages)
  3. Check Debian system version
    Run 'cat /etc/debian_version' to confirm the Debian release
    Affected if The system is Debian 8.0 (Jessie) and has zutils installed
  4. Identify if vulnerable decompression feature is used
    Review system for scripts or manual usage of 'zcat' command on untrusted or unknown compressed files
    Affected if Users or automated processes use zcat to decompress files from untrusted sources

A system is affected if zutils version 1.8 or any version <= 1.8 is installed (including on Debian 8.0), and the zcat command is used to process compressed files.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.8
Interim mitigation

Upgrade zutils to version 1.8-pre2 or later to remediate this vulnerability. Until upgrades are applied, avoid opening untrusted or unknown compressed files with zcat.

Fix this in Debian Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,930
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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-2018-1000637 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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data