CVE-2018-16166
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 · uneditedLogonTracer 1.2.0 and earlier allows remote attackers to conduct XML External Entity (XXE) attacks via unspecified vectors.
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 confidenceLogonTracer versions 1.2.0 and earlier are vulnerable to XML External Entity (XXE) injection. The application parses XML input without properly disabling external entity processing, allowing remote attackers to inject malicious XML that can read local files, perform SSRF attacks, or cause denial of service.
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<= 1.2.0CVSS 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
- 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.
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Identify LogonTracer versionLocate the version file or check the application startup output. Common locations include: a version.txt file, package.json, setup.py, or the main Python/Node module. Run 'python -c "import logontracer; print(logontracer.__version__)"' or check the Docker image tag if using containers.Affected if The installed version is 1.2.0 or earlier, or the version cannot be determined (unpatched installations may not expose version info)
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Locate XML parsing functionalitySearch the application source code for XML parsing imports such as 'import xml' or 'from xml.etree import ElementTree' in Python, or equivalent XML libraries. Check routes or endpoints that accept XML input (look for content-type checks for 'application/xml' or 'text/xml').Affected if The application contains code that parses XML input from users or external sources without sanitization
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Examine XML parser configurationReview the XML parsing code to identify whether external entity processing is explicitly disabled. Look for patterns like 'etree.XMLParser(resolve_entities=False)' in Python's ElementTree, or 'DocumentBuilderFactory.setFeature("http://apache.org/xml/features/disallow-doctype-decl", true)' in Java. Check configuration files for parser settings.Affected if The XML parser has resolve_entities enabled or set to true, or no explicit disabling of external entities is found in the parsing code
The environment is affected if LogonTracer version is 1.2.0 or earlier AND the application processes XML input from users, since the XXE vulnerability allows injection of malicious external entities.
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 LogonTracer to version 1.2.1 or later which contains the security patch. If immediate patching is not possible, disable external entity resolution in the XML parser configuration and implement strict input validation on all XML endpoints.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-16166 — 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-2018-16166 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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- Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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