CVE-2018-14742
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 libpbc.a in cloudwu PBC through 2017-03-02. A SEGV can occur in set_field_one in bootstrap.c during a memcpy.
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 SEGV (segmentation fault) occurs in the set_field_one function in bootstrap.c of the PBC library during a memcpy operation, likely due to invalid pointer or insufficient bounds checking when deserializing protocol buffer data.
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<= 2017-03-02CVSS 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 checksWork through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.
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Locate PBC library installationSearch for libpbc.so or libpbc.a files, or check for pbc.h header in standard include paths. Common paths: /usr/lib/, /usr/local/lib/, /opt/, or within project dependencies.Affected if PBC library files are found on the system or in project dependencies
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Determine PBC versionCheck for version.h or version.c in PBC source, or look at library file metadata (ls -la, file command). The vulnerable version is <= 2017-03-02. Check any build logs or package manager records for install date.Affected if Installed version date is on or before 2017-03-02, or version number cannot be determined and library is older
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Identify if application deserializes untrusted protobuf dataReview application code that calls PBC functions for parsing (pbc_decode, pbc_read, or similar deserialization functions). Check if input comes from network, files, or other untrusted sources.Affected if Application uses PBC to parse protobuf data from untrusted or network sources without additional validation
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Inspect vulnerable code in bootstrap.cLocate bootstrap.c in PBC source and search for set_field_one function. Verify if bounds validation exists before memcpy calls in this function. Look for missing checks on buffer lengths or pointer validity.Affected if The set_field_one function in bootstrap.c lacks proper bounds checking before memcpy operations
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Check for evidence of crashesReview application logs, system logs (dmesg, journalctl), or crash dumps for SEGV, segmentation fault, or bus error related to PBC parsing operations.Affected if Crashes occur during protobuf deserialization using PBC library
Environment is likely affected if PBC library version is <= 2017-03-02 AND the application uses PBC to deserialize untrusted protobuf data, as the missing bounds validation in set_field_one can cause a crash during memcpy.
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 dataUpdate to a patched version of PBC that adds proper bounds validation in set_field_one before the memcpy call, or apply a custom patch to validate source and destination buffer lengths and pointers.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing4.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-14742 — 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-2018-14742 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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