OpenjpegApplication · Uclouvain

CVE-2018-16376

HIGH · 8.8 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-09-03
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
95/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Remotely reachable No privileges

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
An issue was discovered in OpenJPEG 2.3.0. A heap-based buffer overflow was discovered in the function t2_encode_packet in lib/openmj2/t2.c. The vulnerability causes an out-of-bounds write, which may lead to remote denial of service or possibly unspecified other impact.

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

A heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in OpenJPEG 2.3.0 within the t2_encode_packet function in lib/openmj2/t2.c. The vulnerability allows an out-of-bounds write due to improper bounds checking when processing JPEG2000 image data, potentially leading to denial of service or arbitrary code execution.

MitigationUpgrade to a patched version of OpenJPEG beyond 2.3.0 that addresses this vulnerability, or apply vendor-supplied patches to the t2_encode_packet function to enforce proper buffer boundary validation.

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
OpenjpegApplication
Affected:= 2.3.0

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
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 checks

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

  1. Identify OpenJPEG installation and version
    Run 'openjpeg --version' or check the library file version using 'pkg-config --modversion openjpeg' or inspect the shared library file with 'strings' and grep for version info
    Affected if The installed version is exactly 2.3.0
  2. Locate the vulnerable t2.c source file
    Search for the file lib/openmj2/t2.c in the OpenJPEG installation directory or source tree
    Affected if The file exists at lib/openmj2/t2.c in the OpenJPEG installation
  3. Verify the t2_encode_packet function is present
    Run 'nm' or 'objdump' on the compiled library (libopenmj2.so or similar) and grep for 't2_encode_packet'
    Affected if The function symbol t2_encode_packet is exported in the compiled library
  4. Check if applications use OpenJPEG for JPEG2000 processing
    Identify processes or applications that link against OpenJPEG libraries (run 'ldd' on suspected applications or check for j2k/codestream processing)
    Affected if Applications process untrusted JPEG2000 image data using the affected OpenJPEG 2.3.0 library
  5. Review application logs or crash reports
    Search system and application logs for heap corruption errors, segmentation faults, or buffer overflow indicators when processing JPEG2000 files
    Affected if Crashes or heap corruption occur during JPEG2000 image decoding/encoding operations

You are affected if OpenJPEG version 2.3.0 is installed AND your applications process JPEG2000 image data using the vulnerable t2_encode_packet function in lib/openmj2/t2.c

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
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Upgrade to a patched version of OpenJPEG beyond 2.3.0 that addresses this vulnerability, or apply vendor-supplied patches to the t2_encode_packet function to enforce proper buffer boundary validation.

Fix this in Openjpeg Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation4.0 h
  • Implementation4.0 h
  • Testing8.0 h
  • Review / QA4.0 h
20.0 hours of engineering $3,440
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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-2018-16376 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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