CVE-2018-17407
A buffer overflow in the handling of Type 1 fonts allows arbitrary code execution when a malicious font is loaded by one of the vulnerable tools: pdflatex, pdftex, dvips, or luatex.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (2.08%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
An issue was discovered in t1_check_unusual_charstring functions in writet1.c files in TeX Live before 2018-09-21. A buffer overflow in the handling of Type 1 fonts allows arbitrary code execution when a malicious font is loaded by one of the vulnerable tools: pdflatex, pdftex, dvips, or luatex.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 2.08% probability · 81th percentile
- Public exploits
- None in Exploit-DB
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-119
- Affected
- tug/tex live · canonical/ubuntu linux · debian/debian linux
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
EPSS moved from 3.1% on 21 September 2026 to 2.1% on 27 October 2026.
References
- https://github.com/TeX-Live/texlive-source/commit/6ed0077520e2b0da1fd060c7f88db7b2e6068e4cPatch, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2018/msg00230.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3788-1/Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3788-2/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4299Third Party Advisory
- https://github.com/TeX-Live/texlive-source/commit/6ed0077520e2b0da1fd060c7f88db7b2e6068e4cPatch, Third Party Advisory
- https://lists.debian.org/debian-security-announce/2018/msg00230.htmlMailing List, Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3788-1/Third Party Advisory
- https://usn.ubuntu.com/3788-2/Third Party Advisory
- https://www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4299Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA, exploits from Exploit-DB. Refreshed daily. Download this record as JSON.