CVE-2018-14600

An out of bounds write, limited to NULL bytes, was discovered in libX11 in functions XListExtensions() and XGetFontPath(). The length field is considered as a signed value, which makes the library access memory before the intended buffer. An attacker who can either configure a malicious X server or modify the data coming from one could use this flaw to make the program crash or have other unspecified effects, caused by the memory corruption.

To exploit the vulnerability an attacker would need to have already compromised the X server used by your applications. Normally, the X client that runs libX11 and the X server runs on the same machine, thus if an attacker can trigger this flaw he has already compromised the X server, which runs as root, and he has already full control on the system. If the X client runs on another system than the X server (e.g. DISPLAY environment variable is used and it points to an X server on another system) then exploiting this vulnerability would only gain the privileges of the client, which should not be run with high privileges. For the above reasons, this flaw was rated as Moderate Impact.

The CVSS score(s) listed for this vulnerability do not reflect the associated product's status, and are included for informational purposes to better understand the severity of this vulnerability.