CVE-2018-7175
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 issue was discovered in xpdf 4.00. A NULL pointer dereference in readCodestream allows an attacker to cause denial of service via a JPX image with zero components.
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 confidenceA NULL pointer dereference vulnerability exists in xpdf 4.00's readCodestream function when processing JPX (JPEG2000) images. When a specially crafted JPX image containing zero components is parsed, the function attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing the application to crash and resulting in denial of service.
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= 4.00CVSS 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
- Local
- Complexity
- Low
- Privileges
- None
- User interaction
- Required
- Scope
- Unchanged
- Confidentiality
- None
- Integrity
- None
- Availability
- High
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/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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Verify xpdf is installedRun 'xpdf -v' or 'pdftotext -v' (both are part of xpdf) to check if the software is present on the systemAffected if The command returns a version number indicating xpdf is installed
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Confirm installed version is 4.00Examine the version output from the previous step - look specifically for version 4.00. The CVE affects only this exact versionAffected if The version shown is exactly 4.00 (not 3.x, 4.01, or later)
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Check if JPX/JPEG2000 image support is presentXpdf 4.00 includes built-in JPX decoding capability in the core codebase. This is a compiled-in feature, not a separate module - if xpdf 4.00 is present, JPX processing code existsAffected if Xpdf 4.00 is installed (JPX support is included by default in this version)
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Determine if JPX image processing occursReview whether your environment processes PDF files that may contain embedded JPX (JPEG2000) images, or test by attempting to open a JPX image directly with xpdfAffected if You open or process PDF files containing JPX images, or attempt to view JPX images directly using xpdf 4.00
You are affected if xpdf version 4.00 is installed and you open PDF files containing JPX (JPEG2000) images or open JPX images directly with xpdf.
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 dataUpgrade to a patched version of xpdf that addresses this vulnerability, or implement input validation to reject JPX images with zero components before they are processed by the readCodestream function.
- Consultation1.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing2.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-7175 — 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-2018-7175 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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