CVE-2018-16890
7.5 · HIGHOverview
CVE-2018-16890 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting haxx libcurl. It was published on February 6, 2019 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
Technical Description
libcurl versions from 7.36.0 to before 7.64.0 is vulnerable to a heap buffer out-of-bounds read. The function handling incoming NTLM type-2 messages (`lib/vauth/ntlm.c:ntlm_decode_type2_target`) does not validate incoming data correctly and is subject to an integer overflow vulnerability. Using that overflow, a malicious or broken NTLM server could trick libcurl to accept a bad length + offset combination that would lead to a buffer read out-of-bounds.
Remediation
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from haxx. Update libcurl to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
Affected Products
| Vendor | Product | Versions | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| haxx | libcurl | >= 7.36.0, < 7.64.0 | Affected |
| siemens | sinema_remote_connect_client | 0 | Affected |
| f5 | big-ip_access_policy_manager | 13.1.0 | Affected |
References
Frequently Asked Questions
What is CVE-2018-16890?
CVE-2018-16890 is a high-severity vulnerability affecting haxx libcurl. It was published on February 6, 2019 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH).
How severe is CVE-2018-16890?
This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 7.5, rated HIGH. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.
How do I fix or remediate CVE-2018-16890?
Check the references section for vendor advisories and patches from haxx. Update libcurl to the latest patched version. If immediate patching is not possible, review the CVSS vector to understand the attack surface and apply compensating controls such as network segmentation or access restrictions.
How can CyberStrike help with CVE-2018-16890?
CyberStrike's AI-powered security agents can automatically detect CVE-2018-16890 across your infrastructure using autonomous pentesting, DAST scanning, and HackBrowser. The platform continuously monitors for known vulnerabilities and provides actionable remediation guidance prioritized by real-world exploitability.
How CyberStrike Helps
AI agents map your attack surface to find vulnerabilities like this one.
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