CVE-2018-18446
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 · unediteddotPDN Paint.NET before 4.1.2 allows Deserialization of Untrusted Data (issue 1 of 2).
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 confidencePaint.NET before version 4.1.2 contains a deserialization vulnerability where untrusted data is deserialized without proper validation. This type of flaw, often associated with insecure use of .NET BinaryFormatter or similar mechanisms, can allow remote code execution when the application processes maliciously crafted data.
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< 4.1.2CVSS 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:3.1/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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Check Paint.NET installed versionOpen Control Panel > Programs and Features, locate Paint.NET in the list, and note the Version column; alternatively, right-click the Paint.NET executable (usually in C:\Program Files\paint.net or C:\Program Files (x86)\paint.net) and view the Details tab to see the Product VersionAffected if the displayed version is lower than 4.1.2 (for example, 4.1.1, 4.0.6, etc.)
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Verify via Help > AboutLaunch Paint.NET and navigate to Help > About to confirm the exact version number displayed in the dialogAffected if the version shown is below 4.1.2
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Check application startup behaviorObserve whether Paint.NET can launch normally without errors or unexpected behavior when opening filesAffected if the application exhibits unusual behavior when processing files, which may indicate exploitation of this vulnerability
A user is affected if the installed Paint.NET version is any version prior to 4.1.2.
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.
dbcve · scoped4.1.2
Upgrade Paint.NET to version 4.1.2 or later. If upgrading is not immediately possible, restrict network exposure and avoid opening untrusted files or data sources with the application.
Paint.NET 4.1.2 or later
- Navigate to the official Paint.NET website at www.getpaint.net
- Download Paint.NET version 4.1.2 or later
- Run the installer and follow the prompts to upgrade your existing Paint.NET installation
- Verify the installed version by opening Paint.NET and checking Help > About to confirm version 4.1.2 or newer is installed
Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Testing1.0 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 $1,200.
Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-18446 — 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-2018-18446 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