CVE-2018-7454
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 · uneditedA NULL pointer dereference in XFAForm::scanFields in XFAForm.cc in xpdf 4.00 allows attackers to launch denial of service via a specific pdf file, as demonstrated by pdftohtml.
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 XFAForm::scanFields in XFAForm.cc of XPDF 4.00. When processing a specially crafted PDF file containing XFA (XML Forms Architecture) form data, the scanFields function attempts to dereference a NULL pointer, causing the application (including pdftohtml) to crash and result 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 installationCheck if Xpdf utilities (pdftohtml, pdftotext, etc.) are installed on the system using package manager or by attempting to run 'pdftohtml -v' or 'xpdf -v'Affected if Xpdf utilities are present on the system
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Confirm Xpdf versionRun the Xpdf utility with version flag (commonly 'pdftohtml -v' or check the application binary) and compare the reported version to 4.00Affected if The installed version is exactly 4.00
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Identify XFA form usageInspect the PDF file using tools like 'pdfinfo' or examine the PDF structure for XFA (XML Forms Architecture) stream objects or <xfa> elements within the PDFAffected if The PDF being processed contains XFA form data (embedded XML forms)
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Verify scanFields code pathThis is a code-level check: confirm the vulnerable XFAForm::scanFields function exists in the XFAForm.cc source of version 4.00Affected if The XFAForm.cc source file contains the vulnerable scanFields function and XFA processing is enabled
You are affected if Xpdf version 4.00 is installed AND you process PDF files containing XFA (XML Forms Architecture) form data with Xpdf utilities like pdftohtml.
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 dataUpdate XPDF to a version that includes the patched fix for this NULL pointer dereference. Until then, avoid processing untrusted or unknown PDF files with XPDF utilities, as they could trigger the crash.
- Consultation2.0 h
- Implementation2.0 h
- Testing3.0 h
- Review / QA1.0 h
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Scan for this in your stack
Free · runs locallyCheck whether your project pulls in CVE-2018-7454 — 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-2018-7454 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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