CVE-2018-16717
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 · uneditedA heap-based buffer overflow exists in nph-viewgif.cgi in the 2.0.7 through 2.2.26 legacy versions of the NCBI ToolBox.
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 confidenceA heap-based buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the nph-viewgif.cgi component of the NCBI ToolBox legacy versions (2.0.7-2.2.26). This memory corruption flaw allows remote attackers to overflow the heap buffer, potentially achieving arbitrary code execution with the privileges of the CGI process.
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>= 2.0.7, <= 2.2.26CVSS 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
- High
- Integrity
- High
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/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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Locate the nph-viewgif.cgi binarySearch the filesystem for the nph-viewgif.cgi file. Common paths include cgi-bin directories under web server roots (e.g., /var/www/cgi-bin/, /usr/lib/cgi-bin/, or application-specific cgi directories). Use: find / -name 'nph-viewgif.cgi' 2>/dev/nullAffected if The file exists in a publicly accessible web directory
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Identify the NCBI ToolBox versionIf the nph-viewgif.cgi file is found, check for version information within the file itself, any accompanying README, or version file in the same directory. Also check the parent NCBI ToolBox installation directory for version markersAffected if The installed version falls within the range 2.0.7 to 2.2.26 inclusive
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Verify CGI script is web-exposedInspect the web server configuration (Apache: httpd.conf, nginx: nginx.conf) to determine if the directory containing nph-viewgif.cgi is configured as a CGI script alias or location. Check for 'ScriptAlias' directives or 'Options +ExecCGI' settings that enable CGI execution for that pathAffected if The CGI script is accessible via HTTP/HTTPS from the web server
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Check CGI process privilegesIf the web server is running, examine the process user (typically 'www-data', 'apache', or 'nobody' on Linux; 'IUSR' on IIS). Review the web server configuration for the user directive to confirm the privilege level under which nph-viewgif.cgi would executeAffected if The CGI process runs with elevated or privileged user access
The environment is affected if nph-viewgif.cgi is present and web-accessible, and the NCBI ToolBox version is between 2.0.7 and 2.2.26 inclusive.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version if available; otherwise, remove or disable the vulnerable nph-viewgif.cgi CGI binary and implement network-level restrictions (e.g., web application firewall, access controls) to block external access to legacy NCBI ToolBox components.
- Consultation4.0 h
- Implementation8.0 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-2018-16717 — 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-2018-16717 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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