Out-of-bounds WriteWeakness · CWE-787

CVE-2018-25154

CRITICAL · 9.8 CVSS v3.1 Published 2025-12-24
Mitigation only
No fix yet — a mitigation exists. There is no fixed release. A documented workaround reduces exposure in the meantime.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
Public exploit Remotely reachable No privileges Zero-click

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 · unedited
GNU Barcode 0.99 contains a buffer overflow vulnerability in its code 93 encoding process that allows attackers to trigger memory corruption. Attackers can exploit boundary errors during input file processing to potentially execute arbitrary code on the affected system.

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 confidence

GNU Barcode 0.99 contains a buffer overflow vulnerability in its code 93 encoding process. The vulnerability exists due to boundary errors during input file processing, leading to memory corruption that can be exploited for arbitrary code execution.

MitigationImplement proper bounds checking and input validation in the code 93 encoding function; sanitize all input data before processing to prevent buffer overflows. Upgrade to a patched version if available.

Verify against the referenced sources before acting — the references below are authoritative for this CVE, this summary is not.

CVSS 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 checks

Work through these to decide whether this CVE applies to you.

  1. Verify GNU Barcode installation
    Run 'which barcode' or check for barcode executable in common paths like /usr/bin/barcode
    Affected if GNU Barcode is not present on the system, then not affected
  2. Determine installed version
    Run 'barcode --version' or check package manager (dpkg -l | grep barcode, rpm -qa | grep barcode)
    Affected if Version is 0.99 or falls within the affected range; compare to the vulnerable version
  3. Identify code 93 encoding usage
    Review application code or scripts that invoke barcode to see if '-t' or type 93 is specified, or if code 93 is used in any barcode generation workflows
    Affected if Code 93 encoding type is actively used in barcode generation
  4. Inspect input file processing
    Examine any automated workflows or batch processes that pass external input files to barcode for code 93 encoding
    Affected if External or user-supplied files are processed through the code 93 encoding function without prior validation

The environment is affected only if GNU Barcode version 0.99 (or an unpatched version) is installed AND code 93 encoding is being used to process input files, as the buffer overflow occurs specifically in the code 93 encoding process during file handling.

Generated from the published advisory. Verify against your own configuration.

Check your environment

Paste your version and any relevant configuration and it will be compared against the affected criteria above. Do not include secrets or credentials.

AI-assisted, checked against the advisory. Informational, not a guarantee.

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 data
Mitigation available No clean upgrade yet — mitigate in the meantime
Mitigation

Implement proper bounds checking and input validation in the code 93 encoding function; sanitize all input data before processing to prevent buffer overflows. Upgrade to a patched version if available.

Have this fixed Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation3.0 h
  • Implementation6.0 h
  • Testing3.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
14.0 hours of engineering $2,490
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Scan for this in your stack

Free · runs locally
dbcve dependency scanner

Check whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-25154 — 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 sources

Practitioner notes

Contributed

Peer-ranked notes from engineers who’ve handled CVE-2018-25154 in production — separate from our analysis above.

No notes yet

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What this is

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.

What belongs here
  • Verified mitigations, workarounds, and config changes
  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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