How severe is CVE-2018-3836?

CVE-2018-3836 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.

Is CVE-2018-3836 being actively exploited?

It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (70th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.

What products are affected by CVE-2018-3836?

CVE-2018-3836 primarily affects Leptonica. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.

How do I fix CVE-2018-3836?

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-2018-3836 published?

CVE-2018-3836 was published on 2018-04-24 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

CVE-2018-3836

CVE-2018-3836 is a high-severity vulnerability in Leptonica with a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8. It is not currently listed as actively exploited by CISA, and its EPSS exploit-prediction score is low. The underlying weakness is classified as CWE-78.

Key facts

Severity: High (CVSS 3.x base score 7.8)
CVSS v2: 7.2
EPSS exploit prediction: 1% (70th percentile)
Actively exploited: Not listed in CISA KEV
Weakness: CWE-78
Affected product: Leptonica
Published: 2018-04-24
Last modified: 2026-06-17

Description

An exploitable command injection vulnerability exists in the gplotMakeOutput function of Leptonica 1.74.4. A specially crafted gplot rootname argument can cause a command injection resulting in arbitrary code execution. An attacker can provide a malicious path as input to an application that passes attacker data to this function to trigger this vulnerability.

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-3836?: An exploitable command injection vulnerability exists in the gplotMakeOutput function of Leptonica 1.74.4. A specially crafted gplot rootname argument can cause a command injection resulting in arbitrary code execution. An attacker can provide a malicious path as input to an application that passes attacker data to this function to trigger this vulnerability.
How severe is CVE-2018-3836?: CVE-2018-3836 has a CVSS 3.x base score of 7.8, rated high severity. It is exploitable over local access with low attack complexity, requires low privileges and no user interaction. Impact on confidentiality is high, integrity high, and availability high.
Is CVE-2018-3836 being actively exploited?: It is not currently listed in CISA's KEV catalog. Its EPSS exploit-prediction score is 1% (70th percentile), an estimate of the probability of exploitation in the next 30 days.
What products are affected by CVE-2018-3836?: CVE-2018-3836 primarily affects Leptonica. In total, 2 product configurations (CPEs) are listed as vulnerable; see the affected-products list for the exact versions.
How do I fix CVE-2018-3836?: 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-2018-3836 published?: CVE-2018-3836 was published on 2018-04-24 and last updated on 2026-06-17.

References

Affected products (2)

cpe:2.3:a:leptonica:leptonica:1.74.4:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:7.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

More vulnerabilities in Leptonica

CVE-2018-7440 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in Leptonica through 1.75.3. The gplotMakeOutput function allows command injection via a…
CVE-2018-7247 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): An issue was discovered in pixHtmlViewer in prog/htmlviewer.c in Leptonica before 1.75.3. Unsanitized input (rootname)…
CVE-2018-7186 — Critical (CVSS 9.8): Leptonica before 1.75.3 does not limit the number of characters in a %s format argument to fscanf or sscanf, which…
CVE-2018-7442 — Critical (CVSS 9.1): An issue was discovered in Leptonica through 1.75.3. The gplotMakeOutput function does not block '/' characters in the…
CVE-2020-36281 — High (CVSS 7.5): Leptonica before 1.80.0 allows a heap-based buffer over-read in pixFewColorsOctcubeQuantMixed in colorquant1.c.
CVE-2020-36280 — High (CVSS 7.5): Leptonica before 1.80.0 allows a heap-based buffer over-read in pixReadFromTiffStream, related to tiffio.c.

All CVEs affecting Leptonica →

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