Description
libpango in Pango 1.40.8 through 1.42.3, as used in hexchat and other products, allows remote attackers to cause a denial of service (application crash) or possibly have unspecified other impact via crafted text with invalid Unicode sequences.
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 | pango1.0 | 1.42.4-1 | — |
| Debian 13 | pango1.0 | 1.42.4-1 | — |
| Debian 12 | pango1.0 | 1.42.4-1 | — |
Ubuntu
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ubuntu 18.04 LTS | pango1.0 | 1.40.14-1ubuntu0.1 | USN-3750-1 |
SUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| SLES 15 | pango | 1.40.14-3.3.1 | SUSE-SU-2018:2763-1 |
openSUSE
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| openSUSE Tumbleweed | hexchat | 2.14.3-4.4 | openSUSE-SU-2024:10843-1 |
Alpine
Security tracker ↗| Release | Package | Fixed in | Advisory |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpine v3.8 | pango | 1.40.14-r1 | — |
| Alpine v3.7 | pango | 1.40.14-r1 | — |
Public exploits
Exploit or proof-of-concept code for this vulnerability is publicly available, which lowers the bar for attackers. Treat it as a reason to patch sooner.
Third-party code, not reviewed by us. Public PoCs are sometimes fake or contain malware. Read the code first and run it only in an isolated lab, against systems you are authorised to test.
Exploit-DB 1
- Libpango 1.40.8 - Denial of Service (PoC) EDB-45263 · dos · Aug 27, 2018
Sources: PoC-in-GitHub, Metasploit Framework, Exploit-DB — updated daily. Only links are listed; no exploit code is hosted here.
Advisories 3
- USN-3750-1 pango1.0 vulnerability Ubuntu Security Notices (USN) · Apr 22, 2026
- SUSE-SU-2018:2763-1 Security update for pango SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
- openSUSE-SU-2024:10843-1 hexchat-2.14.3-4.4 on GA media SUSE / openSUSE Security Updates · Feb 4, 2026
References
- 45263 exploit
- https://github.com/GNOME/pango/blob/1.42.4/NEWS
- USN-3750-1 vendor-advisory
- https://github.com/GNOME/pango/commit/71aaeaf020340412b8d012fe23a556c0420eda5f
- GLSA-201811-07 vendor-advisory
- [distributor-list] 20180820 A critical pango fix mailing-list
- http://52.117.224.77/xfce4-pdos.webm
- https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/10/16/ps4s-are-reportedly-being-bricked-and-sony-is-working-on-a-fix
- https://www.reddit.com/r/PS4/comments/9o5efg/message_bricking_console_megathread/
- https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/45263
- https://i.redd.it/v7p4n2ptu0s11.jpg