CVE-2019-18397
Publication date 7 November 2019
Last updated 25 August 2025
Ubuntu priority
Description
A buffer overflow in the fribidi_get_par_embedding_levels_ex() function in lib/fribidi-bidi.c of GNU FriBidi through 1.0.7 allows an attacker to cause a denial of service or possibly execute arbitrary code by delivering crafted text content to a user, when this content is then rendered by an application that uses FriBidi for text layout calculations. Examples include any GNOME or GTK+ based application that uses Pango for text layout, as this internally uses FriBidi for bidirectional text layout. For example, the attacker can construct a crafted text file to be opened in GEdit, or a crafted IRC message to be viewed in HexChat.
Status
| Package | Ubuntu Release | Status |
|---|---|---|
| fribidi | ||
| 18.04 LTS bionic |
Not affected
|
|
| 16.04 LTS xenial |
Not affected
|
|
| 14.04 LTS trusty |
Not affected
|
Severity score breakdown
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Base score |
7.8 · High
|
| Attack vector | Local |
| Attack complexity | Low |
| Privileges required | None |
| User interaction | Required |
| Scope | Unchanged |
| Confidentiality | High |
| Integrity impact | High |
| Availability impact | High |
| Vector | CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H |
References
Related Ubuntu Security Notices (USN)
- USN-4179-1
- FriBidi vulnerability
- 7 November 2019