Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
Apache Tika versions before 1.18 can get stuck in an infinite loop while parsing a specially formed BPG file. For organizations using Tika to process uploaded or emailed files, this can consume worker resources and disrupt document-processing services.
Executive priority
Prioritize remediation for internet-facing or business-critical file-processing systems. This is mainly an availability risk, but it can still affect customer workflows if document ingestion or search indexing depends on vulnerable Tika parsing.
Technical view
CVE-2018-1338 affects Apache Tika's BPGParser before version 1.18. The described impact is denial of service through an infinite loop triggered by a crafted or fuzzed file. The source bundle does not provide CVSS, CWE, detailed prerequisites, or proof of active exploitation.
Likely exposure
Exposure is most likely where Apache Tika before 1.18 parses untrusted or semi-trusted files, including upload pipelines, email attachment processing, content indexing, or document extraction services. Risk is lower where BPG parsing is unused or inputs are tightly controlled.
Exploitation context
The provided CVE data says KEV is false. No cited source in the bundle states active exploitation. The evidence supports a denial-of-service concern, not data theft, code execution, or privilege escalation.
Researcher notes
The public bundle identifies the vulnerable component and version boundary but lacks CVSS, CWE, patch diff, and detailed trigger conditions. Treat exploitability analysis as incomplete unless validated against the Apache advisory, downstream package notes, and the local parser configuration.
Mitigation direction
- Upgrade Apache Tika to version 1.18 or later.
- Apply relevant vendor package updates, including Red Hat advisories where applicable.
- Check vendor guidance if using downstream or bundled Tika components.
- Restrict untrusted file parsing where immediate upgrade is not possible.
- Monitor parsing workers for repeated hangs or abnormal CPU consumption.
Validation and detection
- Inventory applications and services that include Apache Tika.
- Confirm deployed Tika versions are 1.18 or later.
- Identify workflows that parse BPG or arbitrary uploaded files.
- Review dependency lockfiles and container images for older Tika builds.
- Check vendor package status against RHSA-2018:2669 where relevant.
Public sources used
Generated from the cited source records. This long-tail analysis has not been individually reviewed by a named human.
Conservative CVE-to-ATT&CK context
These mappings and lookup hints may be relevant to the vulnerability behavior, CWE, affected product, or exposure path. Glexia-inferred context is not an official MITRE, ATT&CK, CWE, or CVE Program mapping.
ATT&CK lookup starting points
Use these exact CWE pages and searches to review the Glexia ATT&CK library from this CVE's weakness and description context.
CVE-2018-1338 mapping review
Open the CVE-to-ATT&CK bridge for reviewed, inferred, or future official mappings tied to this CVE.
Open ATT&CK lookup- Severity
- Unknown
- CVSS
- Not scored
- Known Exploited
- No
- Published
CNA and ADP enrichment extracted from CVE v5
These fields come from the CVE record and ADP containers, not from Glexia's Take. They preserve time-varying source decisions such as CISA SSVC, KEV status, CVSS metrics, and provider references.
CVSS and timeline data
No CVSS vectors or timeline events were available in the normalized CVE source material.
Source materials
- CVE List V5 sourceCVE List V5
- RHSA-2018:2669CVE reference · vendor-advisory, x_refsource_REDHAT
- [dev] 20180425 [CVE-2018-1338] DoS (Infinite Loop) Vulnerability in Apache Tika's BPGParserCVE reference · mailing-list, x_refsource_MLIST
Products and packages named in the record
CWE details
CWE links open Glexia weakness intelligence pages with official CWE context, developer remediation guidance, and related CVE mappings.