ChromeWeb browser · Google
CVE-2018-17461
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 · uneditedAn out of bounds read in PDFium in Google Chrome prior to 68.0.3440.75 allowed a remote attacker to perform an out of bounds memory read via a crafted PDF file.
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 · moderate confidenceAn out-of-bounds read vulnerability in PDFium (Google Chrome's PDF rendering engine) allows a remote attacker to read memory outside allocated buffers by tricking users into opening a specially crafted PDF file. This could leak sensitive information from the process memory.
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
ChromeWeb browser
< 68.0.3440.75
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 9.0
Enterprise Linux DesktopOperating system
= 6.0
Enterprise Linux ServerOperating system
= 6.0
Enterprise Linux WorkstationOperating system
= 6.0CVSS 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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Check Google Chrome versionOpen Chrome and navigate to chrome://settings/help, or run 'google-chrome --version' or 'chrome --version' in terminalAffected if Version is lower than 68.0.3440.75 (e.g., 67.x or earlier)
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Verify Chrome PDF support is enabledNavigate to chrome://settings/content in Chrome, locate the PDF documents section, or check if PDF files open directly in ChromeAffected if PDF support is enabled (PDFium component is active); if PDF handling is set to 'Always open PDF files externally' the vulnerability does not apply
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Check if PDF files open in ChromeAttempt to open any PDF file in Chrome browser, or right-click a PDF and select 'Open with Google Chrome'Affected if PDF files open and render inside Chrome (indicating PDFium is being used)
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On Debian systems, verify installed Chrome package versionRun 'dpkg -l | grep chrome' or 'apt-cache policy google-chrome-stable' to list installed Chrome packages and versionsAffected if Package version is present and lower than 68.0.3440.75
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On RHEL/CentOS systems, verify installed Chrome versionRun 'rpm -qa | grep chrome' to list installed Chrome RPM packagesAffected if Package version is present and lower than 68.0.3440.75
You are affected if Chrome with PDF support enabled is installed with a version below 68.0.3440.75, and users can open PDF files directly in the browser.
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 data68.0.3440.75
Update Google Chrome to version 68.0.3440.75 or later to patch the vulnerable PDFium component.
Fix this in Chrome
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
An estimate, not a bill — we confirm scope with you before any work starts. Need it this week? Rush from $2,560.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-17461 — 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-2018-17461 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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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.
- 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
- No spam, self-promotion, credentials, or personal data