CVE-2018-14034
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 issue was discovered in the HDF HDF5 1.8.20 library. There is an out of bounds read in the function H5O_pline_reset in H5Opline.c.
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 confidenceAn out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the H5O_pline_reset function in H5Opline.c of the HDF5 1.8.20 library. This memory safety issue allows reading memory beyond allocated buffer boundaries, potentially leading to information disclosure or application crashes.
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= 1.8.20CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
-
Identify installed HDF5 library versionRun 'h5dump --version' or check your package manager for hdf5 package version, or inspect the shared library file (libhdf5.so) version metadataAffected if The installed version is exactly 1.8.20
-
Locate HDF5 library files in useUse 'ldd <your_application>' or 'ldconfig -p | grep hdf5' to find which HDF5 library your application is linking against, note the full pathAffected if The library path resolves to a version 1.8.20 binary
-
Check for HDF5 pipeline/pline usageInspect application logs or code for calls to H5O_pline_reset, H5Pget_pipeline, or related HDF5 pipeline configuration functions; review any custom HDF5 property list operationsAffected if The application uses HDF5 pipeline/pline functionality which invokes the vulnerable function
-
Verify HDF5 file processing contextIf your application loads HDF5 files, note that the vulnerability triggers when processing certain object pipeline metadata within HDF5 filesAffected if Your application processes HDF5 files that could contain triggers for the vulnerable code path
You are affected if your environment runs HDF5 library version 1.8.20 and your application processes HDF5 data using pipeline/pline features.
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 to HDF5 version 1.8.21 or later which contains the fix for this vulnerability. If upgrading is not immediately feasible, consider input validation and memory sandboxing to reduce exploitability.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 h
- Testing12.0 h
- Review / QA4.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $7,616.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-14034 — 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-2018-14034 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