CVE-2018-5885
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 · uneditedWhile loading dynamic fonts, a buffer overflow may occur if the number of segments in the font file is out of range in Snapdragon Mobile and Snapdragon Wear.
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 confidenceA buffer overflow vulnerability exists in the dynamic font loading functionality of Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets (Mobile and Wear). The overflow occurs when processing a font file with a segment count that falls outside the expected/validated range, allowing potential 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 dataall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsall versionsCVSS 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:3.0/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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Identify the chipset modelCheck the device specifications or system information to determine if the chipset is one of the affected models: Msm8909w, Msm8996au, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205, Sd 450, Sd 615, or Sd 616. On Android devices, this can typically be found in Settings > About Phone > Chipset or via commands like 'getprop ro.hardware' or 'cat /proc/cpuinfo'.Affected if The device uses any of the listed Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset models (Msm8909w, Msm8996au, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205, Sd 450, Sd 615, or Sd 616).
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Check the firmware versionRetrieve the firmware/baseband version on the device. On Android, use 'Settings > About Phone > Build number' or run 'getprop ro.build.version.incremental' and 'getprop ro.baseband'. Note that according to the advisory, ALL versions of these chipsets are affected.Affected if The device runs any firmware version on the affected chipset models, as all versions are listed as vulnerable.
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Verify dynamic font loading functionalityDetermine if the device uses dynamic font loading, which is a feature that loads fonts at runtime. This is typically found in applications or UI frameworks that support downloadable fonts. Check if applications or system components load fonts from external sources rather than using pre-bundled fonts.Affected if The device or any application on it utilizes dynamic font loading functionality, which is the attack vector for this vulnerability.
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Inspect font processing code/modulesFor security researchers or device manufacturers: analyze the firmware image for the font loading module (typically part of the Qualcomm chipset firmware or associated graphics/UI components). Use firmware extraction tools and search for font parsing code that handles segment counts in font files.Affected if The firmware contains the vulnerable font loading component that does not properly validate segment counts in font files.
A user is affected if their device uses one of the listed Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset models (Msm8909w, Msm8996au, Sd 210, Sd 212, Sd 205, Sd 450, Sd 615, or Sd 616) and utilizes dynamic font loading functionality, as all firmware versions of these chipsets contain the vulnerability.
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 dataApply the firmware update provided by the device OEM/vendor that addresses the font parsing vulnerability in Snapdragon components.
- Consultation8.0 h
- Implementation4.0 h
- Testing16.0 h
- Review / QA8.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-5885 — 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-2018-5885 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
- No weaponised exploit code, or anything meant to cause harm
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