CVE-2018-10773
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 · uneditedNULL pointer deference in the addsn function in serialno.c in libbibcore.a in bibutils through 6.2 allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash), as demonstrated by copac2xml.
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 confidenceA NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in the addsn function in serialno.c within libbibcore.a of bibutils through version 6.2. When processing specially crafted bibliographic input files, the function attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing the application (such as copac2xml) to crash and resulting in denial of service.
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<= 6.2CVSS 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
- Network
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Check if bibutils is installedRun 'which bibutils' or search for bibutils-related binaries (copac2xml, xml2bib, etc.) in common binary directories like /usr/bin, /usr/local/binAffected if Any bibutils binary or library is found on the system
-
Determine bibutils versionRun 'bibutils -v' or check the version of the specific utility being used (e.g., 'copac2xml -v'). Alternatively, check the library file libbibcore.a for version informationAffected if Version is 6.2 or below, or the version cannot be determined (older installation)
-
Identify applications using libbibcore.aSearch for binaries that link against or use libbibcore.a. Look for bibutils conversion tools such as copac2xml, xml2bib, bib2xml, cit2xml, end2xml, isi2xml, medline2xml, nbib2xml, ris2xml, and other bibutils utilitiesAffected if Any bibutils conversion utility is present on the system
-
Verify bibliographic file processing capabilityCheck if the system runs any automated processes or user workflows that process bibliographic input files using bibutils utilities. Review cron jobs, scripts, or applications that invoke copac2xml or similar toolsAffected if Any process or workflow processes bibliographic files using the affected bibutils utilities
A user is affected if bibutils version 6.2 or below is installed AND any application (like copac2xml) uses libbibcore.a to process bibliographic input files, allowing specially crafted files to trigger the NULL pointer dereference crash.
Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.
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 dataUpgrade bibutils to a version beyond 6.2 if available, or implement input validation/sanitization on bibliographic files before processing to prevent malformed data from triggering the NULL dereference.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $1,664.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10773 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.
References Go to the primary sourcePrimary sources — vendor advisories, patches and trackers. Where our summary and a reference disagree, the reference wins.
Primary sourcesPractitioner notes
ContributedPeer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-10773 in production — separate from our analysis above.
The advisory tells you what broke. It rarely tells you what actually worked. If you’ve dealt with this one, that detail is what the next engineer is searching for.
- The version that genuinely resolved it — not the one the vendor claimed
- A config change or rule that shut the vector down
- A gotcha in the upgrade path that cost you an afternoon
No notes yet
Be the first to add a field note for this CVE — a mitigation you’ve verified, a version caveat, or a link to a working fix. Sign in above to contribute.
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.
- 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