CVE-2018-7166: Software Security Vulnerability Vulnerability

HIGH
Advisory Identifier: GHSA-6v28-c2x2-8p46
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CVSS 7.5
CWE-226 CWE-908
Published
Advisory Summary

CVE-2018-7166 is a HIGH (CVSS 7.5) security vulnerability vulnerability (CWE-226: Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse) affecting Software libraries in the Maven ecosystem. The weakness occurs when the product releases a resource such as memory or a file so that it can be made available for reuse, but it does not clear or "zeroize" the information contained in the resource before the product performs a critical state transition or makes the resource available for reuse by other entities.. Remediation is available in the latest vendor maintenance releases.

CVE-2018-7166 at a Glance

CVE Identifier CVE-2018-7166
GHSA Identifier GHSA-6v28-c2x2-8p46
Severity HIGH
CVSS v3.1 Base Score 7.5
CWE Classification CWE-226: Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse
Affected Product Software
Package Ecosystem Maven
Published Date
Last Updated

Security Impact

CVSS: 7.5

The security impact metrics below are parsed directly from the CVSS v3.1 vector string (CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N).

Attack Vector Network (AV:N)
Attack Complexity Low (AC:L)
Privileges Required None (PR:N)
User Interaction None (UI:N)
Scope Unchanged (S:U)
Confidentiality High (C:H)
Integrity None (I:N)
Availability None (A:N)

How to Fix CVE-2018-7166

To remediate this vulnerability, upgrade all affected Software dependencies to a patched release. Both direct and transitive dependencies should be checked, as frameworks or security libraries may pull in vulnerable versions transitively.

Verify Direct and Transitive Dependencies

Run the following command in your project directory to verify that all resolved dependencies use the patched release: 

mvn dependency:tree

How to Check if You Are Affected

To determine whether your Java application is affected by CVE-2018-7166, inspect your build dependencies using the Maven Dependency Plugin:

mvn dependency:tree

Analyze the terminal output to locate any version of Software in your dependency tree. If any resolved version matches the vulnerable ranges listed in the table below (for example, versions earlier than the patched release), your application is affected.

Note: The mvn dependency:tree command inspects the resolved dependency graph declared in your project's POM files; it does not perform automated security scanning or inspect runtime dynamic classpaths. Always verify runtime container classpaths and shaded JARs.

Technical Details

Vulnerability Mechanism & Technical Analysis

This vulnerability is classified under CWE-226: Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse, where the product releases a resource such as memory or a file so that it can be made available for reuse, but it does not clear or "zeroize" the information contained in the resource before the product performs a critical state transition or makes the resource available for reuse by other entities. In Software, software state validation or input boundaries are circumvented during processing. Review the official source advisory statement below for specific affected components, classes, and reproduction details.

Source Advisory Statement

In all versions of Node.js 10 prior to 10.9.0, an argument processing flaw can cause `Buffer.alloc()` to return uninitialized memory. This method is intended to be safe and only return initialized, or cleared, memory. The third argument specifying `encoding` can be passed as a number, this is misinterpreted by `Buffer's` internal "fill" method as the `start` to a fill operation. This flaw may be abused where `Buffer.alloc()` arguments are derived from user input to return uncleared memory blocks that may contain sensitive information.

References

NVD — CVE-2018-7166 NVD
https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7166
access.redhat.com/errata/rhsa-2018:25... WEB
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2553
Software Release RELEASE
https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/august-2018-security-releases

Frequently Asked Questions

What is CVE-2018-7166?
CVE-2018-7166 is a security vulnerability in Software classified as a security vulnerability vulnerability under CWE-226: Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse.
Which Software versions are affected?
Affected versions include releases prior to current release patches.
What version fixes CVE-2018-7166?
Upgrading to current release patches (or the latest patched release for your respective branch) resolves the vulnerability.
What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-7166?
CVE-2018-7166 has a CVSS v3.1 base score of 7.5 (HIGH) with vector string CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.
What CWE is associated with CVE-2018-7166?
CVE-2018-7166 is classified under CWE-226: Sensitive Information in Resource Not Removed Before Reuse (The product releases a resource such as memory or a file so that it can be made available for reuse, but it does not clear or "zeroize" the information contained in the resource before the product performs a critical state transition or makes the resource available for reuse by other entities.).
How can I check Maven dependencies for CVE-2018-7166?
Run the dependency tree command: 'mvn dependency:tree'. This command lists direct and transitive dependencies in your build configuration so you can verify if a vulnerable version is resolved.
Machine-readable OSV JSON OSV v1.5 Schema
Normalized schema output
View Raw JSON 
{
  "schema_version" : "1.4.0",
  "id" : "GHSA-6v28-c2x2-8p46",
  "modified" : "2026-10-09T00:30:58Z",
  "published" : "2022-05-13T01:16:08Z",
  "aliases" : [ "CVE-2018-7166" ],
  "details" : "In all versions of Node.js 10 prior to 10.9.0, an argument processing flaw can cause `Buffer.alloc()` to return uninitialized memory. This method is intended to be safe and only return initialized, or cleared, memory. The third argument specifying `encoding` can be passed as a number, this is misinterpreted by `Buffer's` internal \"fill\" method as the `start` to a fill operation. This flaw may be abused where `Buffer.alloc()` arguments are derived from user input to return uncleared memory blocks that may contain sensitive information.",
  "severity" : [ {
    "type" : "CVSS_V3",
    "score" : "CVSS:3.1/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N"
  } ],
  "affected" : [ ],
  "references" : [ {
    "type" : "ADVISORY",
    "url" : "https://nvd.nist.gov/vuln/detail/CVE-2018-7166"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2018:2553"
  }, {
    "type" : "WEB",
    "url" : "https://nodejs.org/en/blog/vulnerability/august-2018-security-releases"
  } ],
  "database_specific" : {
    "cwe_ids" : [ "CWE-226", "CWE-908" ],
    "severity" : "HIGH",
    "github_reviewed" : false,
    "github_reviewed_at" : null,
    "nvd_published_at" : "2018-08-21T12:29:00Z"
  }
}