CertificationApplication · Redhat
CVE-2018-10864
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 · uneditedAn uncontrolled resource consumption flaw has been discovered in redhat-certification in the way documents are loaded. A remote attacker may provide an existing but invalid XML file which would be opened and never closed, possibly producing a Denial of Service.
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 resource consumption vulnerability exists in redhat-certification where XML files are loaded but never properly closed. When a remote attacker provides a malicious/invalid XML file, the file handle remains open indefinitely, leading to resource exhaustion and potential 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
CertificationApplication
all versionsCVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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.
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Determine if redhat-certification is installedQuery the system package manager (e.g., rpm -qa | grep -i redhat-certification, dpkg -l | grep -i certification, or pip list for Python packages) to check for presence of redhat-certificationAffected if The package is found installed on the system
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Locate XML parsing code within the productSearch the redhat-certification installation directory or source code for XML parsing imports (e.g., grep -r 'import xml' or 'from xml.etree import')Affected if XML parsing code exists within the redhat-certification codebase
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Inspect XML file handling for proper resource closureExamine the XML parsing code to check if file handles are managed with context managers (with statements) or try/finally blocks. Look for patterns like 'with open(...)' or explicit .close() calls after parsingAffected if File handles for XML files are opened without being guaranteed to close (no 'with' statement or try/finally block wrapping the file operation)
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Verify if the vulnerable XML functionality is exposed to user inputReview code paths where external XML files are accepted (user uploads, API inputs, file processing workflows). Check if untrusted XML input can trigger the parsing without proper cleanupAffected if The XML parsing code processes external/untrusted input and lacks guaranteed resource cleanup
If redhat-certification is installed and contains XML file handling that does not use context managers or finally blocks to guarantee file handle closure, the environment is affected by this resource exhaustion vulnerability.
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 dataImplement proper resource management by using context managers (with statements) or finally blocks to ensure XML file handles are always closed, regardless of parsing success or failure.
Fix this in Certification
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,088.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10864 — 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-2018-10864 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
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- Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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