Security readout for executives and security teams
Plain-English summary
CVE-2018-8809 is a denial-of-service issue in radare2 2.4.0. A crafted DEX file could make the tool read beyond a heap buffer while analyzing Dalvik bytecode, potentially crashing analysis workflows.
Executive priority
Treat this as a targeted reliability risk for security analysis environments, not a broad enterprise compromise issue. Prioritize where radare2 processes untrusted mobile samples automatically.
Technical view
The issue is a heap-based buffer over-read in radare2's dalvik_op function in anal_dalvik.c. The published description ties exploitation to processing a crafted DEX file and states the expected impact as denial of service.
Likely exposure
Exposure is likely limited to systems running radare2 2.4.0 that analyze DEX files, especially malware labs, reverse-engineering workstations, or automated pipelines accepting untrusted APK/DEX samples.
Exploitation context
The source bundle does not show KEV listing or cited evidence of active exploitation. The described attacker path is supplying a crafted DEX file to radare2 for analysis.
Researcher notes
Evidence is sparse: the bundle identifies radare2 2.4.0, the affected function, bug class, and denial-of-service impact, but does not provide CVSS, CWE, CPE, patch version, or exploitation evidence.
Mitigation direction
- Inventory radare2 installations and identify version 2.4.0 usage.
- Check radare2 project guidance and release history for a fixed version.
- Avoid processing untrusted DEX files on shared or production systems.
- Run DEX analysis in isolated sandboxes with resource limits.
- Temporarily disable automated untrusted DEX ingestion if crashes are observed.
Validation and detection
- Confirm whether radare2 2.4.0 is installed anywhere.
- Identify workflows that submit APK or DEX files to radare2.
- Review crash logs from analysis hosts for DEX-related failures.
- Verify upgrade status against radare2 project guidance.
- Document compensating controls for any temporarily retained 2.4.0 systems.
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-2018-8809 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://github.com/radare/radare2/issues/9726CVE 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.