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LeptonicaApplication

CVE-2018-7442

CRITICAL · 9.1 CVSS v3.0 Published 2018-02-23
Fix available
A fix is available. Upgrade to after 1.75.3 or later.
See remediation →
100/100
Remediation priority · Urgent
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
An issue was discovered in Leptonica through 1.75.3. The gplotMakeOutput function does not block '/' characters in the gplot rootname argument, potentially leading to path traversal and arbitrary file overwrite.

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 confidence

A path traversal vulnerability exists in Leptonica through version 1.75.3 in the gplotMakeOutput function. The function fails to sanitize or block '/' characters in the gplot rootname argument, allowing an attacker to specify arbitrary file paths and overwrite files on the system.

MitigationImplement strict input validation on the rootname parameter to reject path separator characters ('/') and prevent traversal outside the intended output directory. Consider using a whitelist approach or extracting only the basename from user-supplied paths.

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
LeptonicaApplication
Affected:<= 1.75.3

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
None

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:N

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. Identify Leptonica library version
    Run 'leptonica-config --version' or check the package manager (e.g., 'dpkg -l libleptonica-dev' on Debian, 'rpm -q leptonica' on RHEL). If built from source, check the VERSION file in the source directory.
    Affected if Version is 1.75.3 or lower
  2. Verify gplot module is compiled
    Check for the presence of the gplot library file (e.g., 'libgplot' or 'gplot' object files in the build). Run 'ldconfig -p | grep -i gplot' or inspect the compiled Leptonica libraries for gplot-related symbols.
    Affected if The gplot module is compiled and linked into the Leptonica installation
  3. Determine if applications use gplotMakeOutput
    Search application code for calls to 'gplotMakeOutput', 'gplotCreate', or other gplot functions using 'grep -r "gplotMakeOutput" /path/to/apps'. Review the application's dependency list for linking against libgplot.
    Affected if Any application in the environment links to or calls gplot functions with user-controlled rootname input
  4. Audit input sources to gplot rootname parameter
    Inspect application source code that invokes gplot functions. Look for code paths where the rootname argument originates from user input, configuration files, or network requests without sanitization.
    Affected if The rootname parameter can be influenced by untrusted sources and is not validated to reject '/' characters

You are affected if Leptonica version is 1.75.3 or lower AND the gplotMakeOutput function is accessible with untrusted rootname input that is not validated to block path separator characters.

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.

dbcve · scoped
Upgrade available Upgrade to a release after 1.75.3
Interim mitigation

Implement strict input validation on the rootname parameter to reject path separator characters ('/') and prevent traversal outside the intended output directory. Consider using a whitelist approach or extracting only the basename from user-supplied paths.

Recommended fix High confidence

Leptonica 1.75.4 or later

  1. 1. Identify the current installed version of Leptonica by checking your package manager or running `pkg-config --modversion leptonic` or checking the source version header.
  2. 2. Upgrade Leptonica to version 1.75.4 or later, which contains the fix for the path traversal vulnerability in gplotMakeOutput.
  3. 3. If building from source, obtain the fixed version from the official Leptonica repository (https://github.com/danbloomberg/leptonica) or your distribution's package repository.
  4. 4. Rebuild any applications that link against Leptonica to ensure they use the fixed library.
  5. 5. Verify the upgrade was successful by checking the new version number.

Generated from the published advisory — verify against the referenced sources before acting.

Fix this in Leptonica Scoped from the published advisory
  • Consultation2.0 h
  • Implementation2.0 h
  • Testing4.0 h
  • Review / QA2.0 h
10.0 hours of engineering $1,720
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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-2018-7442 in production — separate from our analysis above.

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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
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  • Version or environment caveats, and links to real fixes
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