7.5

CVE-2018-20796: gnu glibc Uncontrolled Recursion

CVSS: 7.5v3.0HighModified
AliasesUBUNTU-CVE-2018-20796DEBIAN-CVE-2018-20796
Published 26-02-2019Last modified 05-08-2024
Open JSON

Vulnerability summary

CVE-2018-20796 is a high (CVSS 7.5) Uncontrolled Recursion vulnerability in gnu glibc. EPSS estimates a 5.80% chance of exploitation in the next 30 days, higher than 93% of scored vulnerabilities. 2 public exploits are recorded.

Overall risk
41/100
0100
Medium · default modelHow is this calculated?
CVSS score
7.5/10
010
High · v3.0 (NVD)
EPSS score
5.80%
0%100%
Low · +0.05 pp in 30 days
KEVNot listedIn no KEV catalog
RansomwareNone recordedNo known use recorded
Public exploits2reference

Timeline

  1. 26-02-2019
    PublishedVulnerability first disclosed.
  2. 05-08-2024
    Last modifiedVulnerability information updated.

Description

In the GNU C Library (aka glibc or libc6) through 2.29, check_dst_limits_calc_pos_1 in posix/regexec.c has Uncontrolled Recursion, as demonstrated by '(\227|)(\\1\\1|t1|\\\2537)+' in grep.

CVSS metrics

4 scores · 3 sources · 2 versions

EPSS trend

Probability

5.80%

Chance of exploitation in the next 30 days

Percentile

93%

Versus all other CVEs

30-day change

+0.05 pp

From 5.76% on 18-09-2026

18-09-202618-10-2026
EPSS score
5.80%

Known exploited

Compare KEV catalogs

Not in any of the 3 tracked catalogs.

Public exploits

2 found
  • referenceUnverified

    Exploit Reference (lists.gnu.org)

    Maturity: unknown

  • referenceUnverified

    Exploit Reference (debbugs.gnu.org)

    Maturity: unknown

Weaknesses

CWE · root cause

Affected systems

Netapp2 products
Ubuntu2 products
  • eglibcAll versions (No fix recorded)
  • glibcAll versions (No fix recorded)
Debian1 product
  • glibcAll versions (No fix recorded)
Gnu1 product

4 vendors · 6 products

References

9 links