What is CVE-2018-17161?

CVE-2018-17161 is a critical-severity vulnerability in FreeBSD, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2019-01-03.

How severe is CVE-2018-17161?

Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.

Buffer overflow in FreeBSD

CVE-2018-17161

In FreeBSD before 11.2-STABLE(r348229), 11.2-RELEASE-p7, 12.0-STABLE(r342228), and 12.0-RELEASE-p1, insufficient validation of network-provided data in bootpd may make it possible for a malicious attacker to craft a bootp packet which could cause a stack buffer overflow. It is possible that the buffer overflow could lead to a Denial of Service or remote code execution.

Vulnerability class: Buffer Overflow

Published 2019-01-03 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 9.8 (Critical). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.035 (88.8th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 89th percentile — 88.8% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.035 · newest: 0.035 · change: 0.000

Affected products

FreeBSD — versions 12.0, FreeBSD 11.2 before 11.2-RELEASE-p7 and 12.0 before 12.0-RELEASE-p1, 11.2

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-119 — Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer

References

security.freebsd.org/advisories/FreeBSD-SA-18:15.bootpd.asc (vendor-advisory, Patch, Third Party Advisory)
www.securityfocus.com/bid/106292 (VDB Entry, Third Party Advisory, vdb-entry)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-17161?: CVE-2018-17161 is a critical-severity vulnerability in FreeBSD, classified under Improper Restriction of Operations within the Bounds of a Memory Buffer. CVSS score: 9.8/10. Published 2019-01-03.
How severe is CVE-2018-17161?: Critical severity. CVSS v3 base score is 9.8 out of 10.