dbcve.org
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system · Canonical

CVE-2018-14645

HIGH · 7.5 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-09-21
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.8.14 or later.
See remediation →
84/100
Remediation priority · High
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
A flaw was discovered in the HPACK decoder of HAProxy, before 1.8.14, that is used for HTTP/2. An out-of-bounds read access in hpack_valid_idx() resulted in a remote crash and 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 · high confidence

An out-of-bounds read vulnerability exists in the HPACK decoder of HAProxy (before version 1.8.14) used for HTTP/2 header compression. The flaw in the hpack_valid_idx() function allows remote attackers to trigger a denial of service via remote crash.

MitigationUpgrade HAProxy to version 1.8.14 or later to patch the vulnerable HPACK decoder component.

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
Ubuntu LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 18.04
OpenshiftApplication
Affected:= 3.10
Openshift Container PlatformApplication
Affected:= 3.9
Enterprise LinuxOperating system
Affected:= 7.0= 7.3= 7.4= 7.5= 7.6
HaproxyWeb server / proxy
Affected:<= 1.8.14

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
None
Integrity
None
Availability
High

CVSS:3.0/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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Identify HAProxy version
    Run 'haproxy -v' or 'haproxy --version' to get the installed version number
    Affected if The version is 1.8.14 or lower, or the version string cannot be obtained and the package is from an affected distribution
  2. Check if HTTP/2 protocol is enabled
    Inspect the HAProxy configuration file (typically /etc/haproxy/haproxy.cfg) for 'alpn', 'npn', or 'ssl' directives in bind lines that enable HTTP/2
    Affected if HTTP/2 is enabled via protocol negotiation (alpn h2, npn h2, or similar) in any frontend or backend section
  3. Verify HPACK decoder is in use
    Confirm that any frontend accepting HTTP/2 connections uses the default HPACK compression (this is the default for HTTP/2 in HAProxy)
    Affected if Any HTTP/2 frontend is configured to accept HTTP/2 traffic, as HPACK is the standard header compression for HTTP/2

A system is affected if it runs HAProxy version 1.8.14 or earlier AND has HTTP/2 protocol negotiation enabled in its configuration, enabling the vulnerable HPACK decoder to process incoming HTTP/2 requests.

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
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.8.14
Interim mitigation

Upgrade HAProxy to version 1.8.14 or later to patch the vulnerable HPACK decoder component.

Fix this in Ubuntu Linux Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation3.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
11.0 hours of engineering $1,900
Get the upgrade done

An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,040.

Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-14645 — or any other known-vulnerable package — straight from your lock files. Free and open source; it runs locally and uploads nothing.

Get it on GitHub Scan in the browser

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-2018-14645 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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.

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
  • No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
  • No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data