How severe is CVE-2018-14647?

CVE-2018-14647 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.

Is CVE-2018-14647 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 11% (95th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2018-14647?

CVE-2018-14647 primarily affects Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop. In total, 13 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2018-14647?

Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.

When was CVE-2018-14647 published?

CVE-2018-14647 was published on 2018-09-25 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2018-14647

CVE-2018-14647 is a high-severity vulnerability in Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score of 11% places it in the 95th percentile, indicating an elevated likelihood of exploitation. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-909.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.5)
CVSS v2: 5.0
EPSS exploit prediction: 11% (95th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-909
Affected product: Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop
Published: 2018-09-25
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

Python's elementtree C accelerator failed to initialise Expat's hash salt during initialization. This could make it easy to conduct denial of service attacks against Expat by constructing an XML document that would cause pathological hash collisions in Expat's internal data structures, consuming large amounts CPU and RAM. The vulnerability exists in Python versions 3.7.0, 3.6.0 through 3.6.6, 3.5.0 through 3.5.6, 3.4.0 through 3.4.9, 2.7.0 through 2.7.15.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-14647?: Python's elementtree C accelerator failed to initialise Expat's hash salt during initialization. This could make it easy to conduct denial of service attacks against Expat by constructing an XML document that would cause pathological hash collisions in Expat's internal data structures, consuming large amounts CPU and RAM. The vulnerability exists in Python versions 3.7.0, 3.6.0 through 3.6.6, 3.5.0 through 3.5.6, 3.4.0 through 3.4.9, 2.7.0 through 2.7.15.
How severe is CVE-2018-14647?: CVE-2018-14647 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.5, rated high severity. It is exploitable over network with low attack complexity, requires no privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is none, integrity none, and availability high.
Is CVE-2018-14647 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 11% (95th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-14647?: CVE-2018-14647 primarily affects Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop. In total, 13 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-14647?: Review the linked vendor and NVD advisories for patched versions and mitigations, then upgrade or apply the recommended workaround. Given its high severity, prioritise patching exposed systems.
When was CVE-2018-14647 published?: CVE-2018-14647 was published on 2018-09-25 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (13)

cpe:2.3:a:python:python:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:esm:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:fedoraproject:fedora:30:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:opensuse:leap:15.1:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_desktop:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_server:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:redhat:enterprise_linux_workstation:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop

CVE-2018-18505 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): An earlier fix for an Inter-process Communication (IPC) vulnerability, CVE-2011-3079, added authentication to…
CVE-2014-0247 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): LibreOffice 4.2.4 executes unspecified VBA macros automatically, which has unspecified impact and attack vectors,…
CVE-2014-1512 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Use-after-free vulnerability in the TypeObject class in the JavaScript engine in Mozilla Firefox before 28.0, Firefox…
CVE-2013-5843 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 7u40 and earlier, Java SE 6u60 and earlier, Java SE 5.0u51 and earlier,…
CVE-2013-5842 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 7u40 and earlier, Java SE 6u60 and earlier, Java SE 5.0u51 and earlier, and…
CVE-2013-5830 — Critical (CVSS 10.0): Unspecified vulnerability in Oracle Java SE 7u40 and earlier, Java SE 6u60 and earlier, Java SE 5.0u51 and earlier,…

All CVEs affecting Redhat Enterprise Linux Desktop →

Other CWE-909 vulnerabilities

CVE-2022-22704 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): The zabbix-agent2 package before 5.4.9-r1 for Alpine Linux sometimes allows privilege escalation to root because the…
CVE-2024-8178 — High (CVSS 8.8): The ctl_write_buffer and ctl_read_buffer functions allocated memory to be returned to userspace, without initializing…
CVE-2021-29980 — High (CVSS 8.8): Uninitialized memory in a canvas object could have caused an incorrect free() leading to memory corruption and a…
CVE-2021-23994 — High (CVSS 8.8): A WebGL framebuffer was not initialized early enough, resulting in memory corruption and an out of bound write. This…
CVE-2020-11741 — High (CVSS 8.8): An issue was discovered in xenoprof in Xen through 4.13.x, allowing guest OS users (with active profiling) to obtain…
CVE-2024-9780 — High (CVSS 7.8): ITS dissector crash in Wireshark 4.4.0 allows denial of service via packet injection or crafted capture file

Browse all CWE-909 vulnerabilities →

Threat intelligence

Threat-intel indicators referencing this CVE:

203.192.232.180 (ipv4-addr)
177.53.215.134 (ipv4-addr)
5.99.196.202 (ipv4-addr)
121.164.135.251 (ipv4-addr)
120.224.15.67 (ipv4-addr)
222.88.237.152 (ipv4-addr)