← Vulnerability feed

Vulnerability record · CVE-2018-3966 · published 3 October 2018

CVE-2018-3966: Foxitsoftware phantompdf use after free vulnerability

Foxitsoftware · Phantompdf

An exploitable use-after-free vulnerability exists in the JavaScript engine of Foxit Software's Foxit PDF Reader version 9.1.0.5096. A specially crafted PDF document can trigger a previously freed object in memory to be reused, resulting in arbitrary code execution. An attacker needs to trick the user to open the malicious file to trigger this vulnerability. If the browser plugin extension is enabled, visiting a malicious site can also trigger the vulnerability.

7.8 CVSS 3.1 High EPSS 6.2% · top 6.7% CWE-416 · Use after free
7.8CVSS 3.1 base score, v2 6.8
6.2%EPSS exploitation probability, 30 days
NoNot in CISA KEV
2Affected product versions listed by NVD
3References, 2 tagged exploit
17 Jun 2026Last modified by NVD

Description

An exploitable use-after-free vulnerability exists in the JavaScript engine of Foxit Software's Foxit PDF Reader version 9.1.0.5096. A specially crafted PDF document can trigger a previously freed object in memory to be reused, resulting in arbitrary code execution. An attacker needs to trick the user to open the malicious file to trigger this vulnerability. If the browser plugin extension is enabled, visiting a malicious site can also trigger the vulnerability.

CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected products

2 vulnerable configurations from NVD's CPE data, grouped by vendor and product.

References

LinkTags
https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2018-0631 ExploitThird Party Advisory
https://www.foxitsoftware.com/support/security-bulletins.php PatchVendor Advisory
https://talosintelligence.com/vulnerability_reports/TALOS-2018-0631 ExploitThird Party Advisory

Track CVE-2018-3966 inside VULONE

Watch it alongside the ransomware crews, C2 infrastructure and forum chatter that reference it, query it through the API and pull it into your SIEM over TAXII.

Start free Open in platform

Related vulnerabilities

Same products first, then exploited flaws of the same weakness class.

10.0CVE-2009-0836Foxitsoftware reader memory buffer overflow vulnerabilityFoxit Reader 2.3 before Build 3902 and 3.0 before Build 1506, including 1120 and 1301, does not require user confirmation before performing dangerous…EPSS 41%9.8CVE-2021-38574Foxitsoftware foxit reader sql injection vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1.4. It allows SQL Injection via crafted data at the end of a string.EPSS 0.99%9.8CVE-2021-38568Foxitsoftware foxit reader out-of-bounds write vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1.4. It allows memory corruption during conversion of a PDF document to a different …EPSS 1.1%9.8CVE-2021-38572Foxitsoftware foxit reader vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1.4. It allows writing to arbitrary files because the extractPages pathname is not v…EPSS 1.1%9.8CVE-2021-38573Foxitsoftware foxit reader vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1.4. It allows writing to arbitrary files because a CombineFiles pathname is not val…EPSS 1.1%9.8CVE-2021-33793Foxitsoftware foxit reader out-of-bounds write vulnerabilityFoxit Reader before 10.1.4 and PhantomPDF before 10.1.4 have an out-of-bounds write because the Cross-Reference table is mishandled during Office doc…EPSS 1.1%9.8CVE-2020-26534Foxitsoftware foxit reader use after free vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1. There is an Opt object use-after-free related to Field::ClearItems and Field::Del…EPSS 2.4%9.8CVE-2020-26535Foxitsoftware foxit reader out-of-bounds write vulnerabilityAn issue was discovered in Foxit Reader and PhantomPDF before 10.1. If TslAlloc attempts to allocate thread local storage but obtains an unacceptable…EPSS 1.7%

Source: NIST National Vulnerability Database (record CVE-2018-3966), CISA KEV, FIRST EPSS (scores of 2026-09-26). This page is refreshed as NVD updates the record.