GoApplication · Golang
CVE-2018-16875
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 crypto/x509 package of Go before 1.10.6 and 1.11.x before 1.11.3 does not limit the amount of work performed for each chain verification, which might allow attackers to craft pathological inputs leading to a CPU denial of service. Go TLS servers accepting client certificates and TLS clients are affected.
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 confidenceGo's crypto/x509 package before versions 1.10.6 and 1.11.3 lacks resource limits during X.509 certificate chain verification, allowing attackers to supply pathological certificate chains that consume excessive CPU, resulting in denial of service. This affects TLS servers that accept client certificates and TLS clients performing certificate verification.
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
GoApplication
< 1.10.6>= 1.11.0, < 1.11.3= 42.3CVSS 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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Check installed Go versionRun 'go version' or 'go env GOVERSION' to determine the Go compiler versionAffected if Version is below 1.10.6, or between 1.11.0 and 1.11.2 inclusive
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Identify Go-based TLS serversReview running processes and application configurations for Go binaries that operate as TLS servers. Check for applications using crypto/x509 and crypto/tls in server modeAffected if A Go application runs as a TLS server accepting client certificates using the affected Go version
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Identify Go-based TLS clientsReview application configurations and logs for Go applications that perform TLS certificate verification against remote serversAffected if Go applications perform TLS certificate chain verification using the affected Go version
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Check for active TLS service exposureExamine TLS server configurations (listen addresses, certificates, clientCA settings if using client auth) and network listeners to confirm TLS services are actually runningAffected if TLS services are actively running and accepting connections using the vulnerable Go version
You are affected if you run Go version 1.10.6 or earlier, or 1.11.0-1.11.2, and any Go-based application performs TLS certificate chain verification either as a server accepting client certificates or as a client validating server certificates.
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 data1.10.61.11.3
Upgrade Go to version 1.10.6, 1.11.3, or later to receive the patch that adds chain verification resource limits. For systems that cannot upgrade immediately, consider rate limiting or restricting accepted certificate chains.
Fix this in Go
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation3.0 h
- Implementation6.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA2.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $3,984.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-16875 — 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-2018-16875 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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