Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2018-19211 is a denial-of-service flaw in ncurses 6.1. A malformed terminal database entry can drive parsing into a NULL pointer dereference, potentially crashing the affected process. The public bundle does not show active exploitation, a CVSS score, or complete vendor/product coverage.
Executive priority
Treat as a targeted availability risk, not a confirmed widespread emergency. Prioritize patch verification where ncurses 6.1 processes untrusted input or supports important operational services.
Technical view
The flaw is reported in _nc_parse_entry in parse_entry.c. After detecting a dubious '*' character in a name or alias field, ncurses 6.1 can continue into a code path that dereferences NULL, causing denial of service.
Likely exposure
Most likely exposure is systems or applications using ncurses 6.1 to parse untrusted or malformed terminal capability data. The bundle's structured affected list is incomplete, so distribution-specific exposure must be confirmed from vendor package data.
Exploitation context
The sources describe denial of service only. There is no KEV listing and no cited evidence of active exploitation in the provided bundle. No remote attack surface is confirmed by the sources.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse: no CVSS, CWE, detailed affected CPEs, fix commit, or exploit status appears in the bundle. Analysis should remain tied to ncurses 6.1 parser behavior and vendor advisories.
Mitigation direction
- Check vendor advisories for fixed ncurses packages addressing CVE-2018-19211.
- Upgrade ncurses through supported operating-system or distribution channels where fixes are available.
- Avoid processing untrusted terminal capability entries with affected ncurses versions.
- Prioritize systems where ncurses parsing is reachable from untrusted input.
Validation and detection
- Inventory ncurses versions across servers, containers, appliances, and developer images.
- Confirm whether ncurses 6.1 is present in affected environments.
- Review vendor security trackers for package status and fixed versions.
- Identify applications that parse external terminal capability data through ncurses.
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-2018-19211 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
- https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1643754CVE reference · x_refsource_MISC
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.