CertificationApplication · Redhat
CVE-2018-10868
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 · uneditedredhat-certification 7 does not properly restrict the number of recursive definitions of entities in XML documents, allowing an unauthenticated user to run a "Billion Laugh Attack" by replying to XMLRPC methods when getting the status of an host.
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 confidenceredhat-certification 7 contains an XML parser vulnerability where the XMLRPC endpoint does not restrict recursive entity definitions, allowing an unauthenticated attacker to trigger a Billion Laughs attack by sending specially crafted XML with nested entity expansions that exhaust server resources.
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
= 7.0CVSS 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
- None
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.1/AV:N/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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Verify redhat-certification is installedRun 'rpm -qa | grep redhat-certification' or check for the package in your package managerAffected if The package redhat-certification is present on the system
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Confirm the installed versionRun 'rpm -q redhat-certification' or check the installed package versionAffected if The version returned is 7.0 (exact match)
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Determine if the XMLRPC service is running and exposedCheck running services with 'systemctl status' or look for listening ports (typically 8080 or as configured) related to redhat-certificationAffected if The XMLRPC endpoint is accessible over the network
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Check XML parser configuration for entity expansion limitsExamine the XML parser or XMLRPC handler configuration files for settings related to entity expansion limits (such as 'maxEntityExpansionDepth' or similar)Affected if No entity expansion limits are configured or limits are set to an excessively high value
You are affected if redhat-certification version 7.0 is installed and the XMLRPC endpoint is accessible without entity expansion limits configured on the XML parser.
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 dataConfigure the XML parser to limit entity expansion depth and disable external entity processing. Consider using a hardened XML parser or adding XXE/Entity expansion protections to the XMLRPC handler.
Fix this in Certification
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 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 $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-10868 — 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-2018-10868 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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