Description
In Apache PDFBox 1.8.0 to 1.8.15 and 2.0.0RC1 to 2.0.11, a carefully crafted PDF file can trigger an extremely long running computation when parsing the page tree.
Affected products
| Vendor | Product | Affected | Fixed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apache Software Foundation | Apache PDFBox | 1.8.0 to 1.8.15, 2.0.0RC1 to 2.0.11 | — |
Fixed in Linux distributions
Distributions backport fixes, so the version that fixes this vulnerability differs per release — upgrade to at least the version shown. From the distributions' security trackers and advisories.
Debian
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Debian 14 | libpdfbox-java | 1:1.8.16-1 | — |
| Debian 14 | libpdfbox2-java | 2.0.12-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | libpdfbox-java | 1:1.8.16-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | libpdfbox2-java | 2.0.12-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | libpdfbox-java | 1:1.8.16-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | libpdfbox2-java | 2.0.12-1 | — |
| Debian 8 | libpdfbox-java | 1:1.8.7+dfsg-1+deb8u2 | DLA-1547-1 |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | libpdfbox-java | 1:1.8.16-2~18.04 | — |
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | libpdfbox2-java | 2.0.13-2~18.04 | — |
| Ubuntu 16.04 LTS | libpdfbox-java | No fix yet | — |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 | apache-pdfbox | 1.8.12-5.6.3 | SUSE-SU-2018:3755-1 |
| SLES 12 SP3 | apache-pdfbox | 1.8.12-3.5.4 | SUSE-SU-2018:3318-1 |
Affected packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Affected | Fixed | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maven | org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox | >= 1.8.0, < 1.8.16 | 1.8.16 | GHSA-gx96-vgf7-hwfg |
| Maven | org.apache.pdfbox:pdfbox | >= 2.0.0, < 2.0.12 | 2.0.12 | GHSA-gx96-vgf7-hwfg |
Advisories 3
- DLA-1547-1 libpdfbox-java - security update Debian Security (DSA / DLA) · Mar 9, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2018:3755-1 Security update for apache-pdfbox SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2018:3318-1 Security update for apache-pdfbox SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
References
- [announce] 20181006 [UPDATE][CVE-2018-11797] DoS vulnerability in Apache PDFBox parser mailing-list
- [announce] 20181005 [CVE-2018-11797] DoS vulnerability in Apache PDFBox parser mailing-list
- [debian-lts-announce] 20181016 [SECURITY] [DLA 1547-1] libpdfbox-java security update mailing-list
- FEDORA-2019-9e91afa2be vendor-advisory
- FEDORA-2019-6fa01d12b4 vendor-advisory
- https://www.oracle.com/security-alerts/cpuapr2020.html
- [pdfbox-dev] 20210518 CVE's mailing-list