What is CVE-2018-5205?

CVE-2018-5205 is a high-severity vulnerability in Irssi, classified under Use of Externally-Controlled Format String. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2018-01-06.

How severe is CVE-2018-5205?

High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.

Vulnerability in Irssi

CVE-2018-5205

When using incomplete escape codes, Irssi before 1.0.6 may access data beyond the end of the string.

Published 2018-01-06 · last modified 2026-06-17.

CVSS v3 metric

CVSS v3 base score 7.5 (High). Vector: CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N.

EPSS exploit prediction

EPSS: 0.024 (83.7th percentile), scored 2026-09-29.

Low probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, but still tracked. 84th percentile — 83.7% of CVEs in the catalogue have a lower EPSS than this one. How to read EPSS.

EPSS over last 30 days · oldest: 0.024 · newest: 0.024 · change: 0.000

Affected products

Irssi
Canonical Ubuntu Linux — versions 14.04, 16.04, 17.04
Debian Linux — versions 9.0

Weakness classification (CWE)

CWE-134 — Use of Externally-Controlled Format String

References

usn.ubuntu.com/3527-1/ (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
www.debian.org/security/2018/dsa-4162 (vendor-advisory, Third Party Advisory)
irssi.org/security/irssi_sa_2018_01.txt (Patch, Vendor Advisory)

Frequently asked questions

What is CVE-2018-5205?: CVE-2018-5205 is a high-severity vulnerability in Irssi, classified under Use of Externally-Controlled Format String. CVSS score: 7.5/10. Published 2018-01-06.
How severe is CVE-2018-5205?: High severity. CVSS v3 base score is 7.5 out of 10.