CVE-2018-16132
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 · uneditedThe image rendering component (createGenericPreview) of the Open Whisper Signal app through 2.29.0 for iOS fails to check for unreasonably large images before manipulating received images. This allows for a large image sent to a user to exhaust all available memory when the image is displayed, resulting in a forced restart of the device.
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 confidenceThe createGenericPreview function in Signal iOS versions up to 2.29.0 does not validate image dimensions or file size before processing received images. When a large image is displayed, the uncontrolled image manipulation exhausts available device memory, causing the iOS device to forcibly restart.
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<= 2.29.0CVSS 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
- Changed
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:C/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 Signal iOS is installedLocate the Signal app icon on the iOS device home screen or in the app library. Confirm the app named 'Signal' from Signal Foundation is present.Affected if Signal iOS app is installed on the device
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Check installed Signal iOS versionOpen the App Store app, go to the Account profile, tap 'Purchased' or search for Signal, then view the app version. Alternatively, open Signal app, go to Settings > About to see the version number.Affected if Version is 2.29.0 or lower
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Confirm version is within affected rangeCompare the installed version number to the affected range: any version up to and including 2.29.0 is vulnerable.Affected if Installed version is <= 2.29.0
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Verify createGenericPreview handles incoming imagesThis is an internal app function that processes image previews automatically when Signal receives images. The function is invoked by default during normal messaging operations - no user configuration controls it.Affected if Signal iOS <= 2.29.0 is installed and users receive images through the app
A user is affected if Signal iOS version 2.29.0 or lower is installed and the app is used to receive images, since the createGenericPreview function will process images without dimension or file size validation.
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 dataImplement bounds checking in the createGenericPreview function to validate image dimensions and file size against reasonable thresholds before processing, rejecting or resizing images that exceed defined limits.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-16132 — 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-2018-16132 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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