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CVE-2018-18688

5.3 · MEDIUM

The Portable Document Format (PDF) specification does not provide any information regarding the concrete procedure of how to validate signatures.

Published Jan 7, 2021CWE-347EPSS 1.15%

Overview

CVE-2018-18688 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on January 7, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3 (MEDIUM).

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3, rated MEDIUM. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

Technical description

The Portable Document Format (PDF) specification does not provide any information regarding the concrete procedure of how to validate signatures. Consequently, an Incremental Saving vulnerability exists in multiple products. When an attacker uses the Incremental Saving feature to add pages or annotations, Body Updates are displayed to the user without any action by the signature-validation logic. This affects Foxit Reader before 9.4 and PhantomPDF before 8.3.9 and 9.x before 9.4. It also affects LibreOffice, Master PDF Editor, Nitro Pro, Nitro Reader, Nuance Power PDF Standard, PDF Editor 6 Pro, PDFelement6 Pro, PDF Studio Viewer 2018, PDF Studio Pro, Perfect PDF 10 Premium, and Perfect PDF Reader.

Remediation

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. 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.

References

Refpdf-insecurity.org/signature/evaluation_2018.htmlRefpdf-insecurity.org/signature/signature.htmlRefwww.foxitsoftware.com/support/security-bulletins.phpRefwww.pdfa.org/recently-identified-pdf-digital-signature-vulnerabilities/Refpdf-insecurity.org/signature/evaluation_2018.htmlRefpdf-insecurity.org/signature/signature.htmlRefwww.foxitsoftware.com/support/security-bulletins.phpRefwww.pdfa.org/recently-identified-pdf-digital-signature-vulnerabilities/

How CyberStrike helps

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-18688?

CVE-2018-18688 is a medium-severity vulnerability. It was published on January 7, 2021 and has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3 (MEDIUM).

How severe is CVE-2018-18688?

This vulnerability has a CVSS 3.1 base score of 5.3, rated MEDIUM. It can be exploited remotely over the network. No authentication or special privileges are required for exploitation.

How do I fix or remediate CVE-2018-18688?

Check the references section for vendor advisories, patches, and mitigation guidance. 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-2018-18688?

CyberStrike is an open-source, AI-augmented pentesting engine. Rather than flag a version number, it tests whether an issue like CVE-2018-18688 is actually reachable in your own applications and APIs, then verifies each finding before reporting it. That tells you if the weakness is a real, exploitable risk in your environment or a false positive you can safely deprioritize.

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