ChromeWeb browser · Google
CVE-2018-17481
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 · uneditedIncorrect object lifecycle handling in PDFium in Google Chrome prior to 71.0.3578.98 allowed a remote attacker to potentially exploit heap corruption 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 · high confidenceThis is a memory management vulnerability in PDFium (Google's PDF rendering library) where incorrect object lifecycle handling leads to use-after-free or similar memory corruption. A remote attacker can exploit this by crafting a malicious PDF file that triggers improper object handling, potentially allowing heap corruption and arbitrary code execution.
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
< 71.0.3578.98
Linux DesktopOperating system
= 6.0
Linux ServerOperating system
= 6.0
Linux WorkstationOperating system
= 6.0
Debian LinuxOperating system
= 9.0CVSS 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 version on Windows/MacOpen Chrome, click the three-dot menu, select Help, then About Google Chrome. The version number is displayed on that page.Affected if The displayed version is earlier than 71.0.3578.98 (for example, 71.0.3578.80 or lower)
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Check Chrome version on LinuxOpen a terminal and run: google-chrome --version or chrome --versionAffected if The reported version is earlier than 71.0.3578.98
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Check for Chromium browser on LinuxRun: rpm -q chromium-browser or dpkg -l | grep chromium in the terminal to list installed Chromium packages.Affected if Chromium is installed and the package version is earlier than the version containing the 71.0.3578.98 patch
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Identify PDFium library presenceSearch for libpdfium.so (Linux) or PDFium.dll (Windows) in common library directories: /usr/lib/ or examine the Chrome/Chromium binary directly for embedded PDFium.Affected if The PDFium library exists and originates from a Chrome/Chromium build version below 71.0.3578.98
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Check if PDF rendering is enabledIn Chrome or Chromium, verify that the built-in PDF viewer is not disabled. Navigate to chrome://settings/content and confirm PDF documents are set to 'Open PDF files in Chrome' or not blocked.Affected if PDF viewing is enabled and the underlying Chrome/Chromium version is vulnerable
A user is affected if they run Google Chrome or Chromium with an embedded PDFium component version earlier than 71.0.3578.98 and have PDF viewing capabilities enabled.
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 data71.0.3578.98
Update Google Chrome to version 71.0.3578.98 or later to obtain the patched PDFium component. Organizations should deploy this update through their standard patch management processes.
Fix this in Chrome
Scoped from the published advisory
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation3.0 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 $2,272.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-17481 — 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-2018-17481 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