Openj9Application · Eclipse

CVE-2018-12548

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2019-01-31
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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
In OpenJDK + Eclipse OpenJ9 version 0.11.0 builds, the public jdk.crypto.jniprovider.NativeCrypto class contains public static natives which accept pointer values that are dereferenced in the native code.

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

The jdk.crypto.jniprovider.NativeCrypto class in Eclipse OpenJ9 0.11.0 contains public static native methods that accept pointer values which are directly dereferenced in native code without proper validation. This allows attackers to manipulate pointer values to read/write to arbitrary memory addresses, potentially achieving remote code execution.

MitigationUpgrade Eclipse OpenJ9 to version 0.12.0 or later which contains the patched NativeCrypto class with proper pointer validation in the native methods.

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
Openj9Application
Affected:= 0.11.0

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
Network
Complexity
Low
Privileges
None
User interaction
None
Scope
Unchanged
Confidentiality
High
Integrity
High
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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. Confirm Eclipse OpenJ9 installation and version
    Run 'java -version' to display the JVM implementation details. Look for 'Eclipse OpenJ9' in the output and note the version string.
    Affected if The version shown is exactly 0.11.0
  2. Locate the NativeCrypto class
    Search for the jdk.crypto.jniprovider.NativeCrypto class in the JDK installation directory. On typical setups, this is found under <JAVA_HOME>/lib/modules or within the jdk.crypto.jniprovider module.
    Affected if The NativeCrypto class exists and contains public static native methods accepting pointer parameters
  3. Verify the jdk.crypto.jniprovider module is loaded
    Run 'java -XshowSettings:properties -version' and look for 'jdk.crypto.jniprovider' in the module list, or use 'java --list-modules' to enumerate loaded modules.
    Affected if The jdk.crypto.jniprovider module is present and active in the runtime
  4. Check for cryptographic operations using native code
    Review any application code or libraries that utilize java.security or javax.crypto APIs, as these internally invoke the NativeCrypto native methods for cryptographic operations.
    Affected if The application uses cryptographic functions that route through the vulnerable NativeCrypto class

You are affected only if Eclipse OpenJ9 version 0.11.0 is running with the jdk.crypto.jniprovider module loaded and cryptographic operations are performed that invoke the vulnerable NativeCrypto native methods.

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

Upgrade Eclipse OpenJ9 to version 0.12.0 or later which contains the patched NativeCrypto class with proper pointer validation in the native methods.

Fix this in Openj9 Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation1.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
9.0 hours of engineering $1,540
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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-2018-12548 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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