CVE-2018-1061

22

FAUCET Score

CVE-2018-1061 describes a catastrophic backtracking vulnerability in the difflib.IS_LINE_JUNK method of Python versions prior to 2.7.15, 3.4.9, 3.5.6rc1, 3.6.5rc1, and 3.7.0, affecting various distributions including Canonical, Debian, Fedora, Python, and Red Hat. This flaw carries a high CVSS score of 7.5, indicating a network-exploitable vulnerability with low attack complexity that can lead to a denial of service. There is no evidence of active exploitation, public exploit code (Metasploit, Nuclei, ExploitDB), or significant community discussion or media coverage surrounding this CVE.

Impacted Technologies

Vendor	Product	Version(s)	CPE
		< 2.7.15CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:python:python::::::::
		>= 3.0, < 3.4.9CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:python:python::::::::
		>= 3.5.0, <= 3.5.5CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:python:python::::::::
		>= 3.6, <= 3.6.4CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:python:python::::::::
		3.7.0CPE matchmatch criteria	cpe:2.3:a:python:python:3.7.0:alpha1::::::

CVSS Data

CVSS version used by this source: 3.0

6.5MEDIUM

CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:N/I:N/A:H

Attack Vector

NETWORK

Attack Complexity

LOW

Privileges Required

NONE

User Interaction

REQUIRED

Scope

UNCHANGED

Confidentiality Impact

NONE

Integrity Impact

NONE

Availability Impact

HIGH

Exploitability Score

2.8

Impact Score

3.6

CvssVersion

3.0

Exploit Intelligence

EPSS Score

5.16%

Probability of exploitation in next 30 days

EPSS Percentile

91.6%

Percentile rank of EPSS score among Peer Group

As of 2026-07-28

Model: v2026.06.15

This CVE's current EPSS score of 0.0516 is in the 85th percentile among its peer group of 51,553 CVEs.

Social Chatter

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.0 Twitter, 0.0 Reddit, 0.1 Bluesky, 0.1 Mastodon, and 0.4 GitHub mentions.

Media Mentions

No media coverage found for this CVE.

The average CVE in this peer group has 0.1 InfoSec Media, 0.0 Vendor Blog, and 0.0 Security Researcher mentions.

Remediation

Patch Available

Vendor Patches (26)

nodejspatch availablevia llm_extracted

pjsippatch availablevia llm_extracted

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Telco Extended Update SupportFixed in: python-0:2.7.5-63.el7_4

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Update Services for SAP SolutionsFixed in: python-0:2.7.5-63.el7_4

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 Extended Update SupportFixed in: python-0:2.7.5-74.el7_5

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: python27-python-0:2.7.16-4.el6

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: python27-python-jinja2-0:2.6-12.el6

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: rh-python36-python-0:3.6.9-2.el6

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: python27-python-0:2.7.16-4.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: python27-python-jinja2-0:2.6-15.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: rh-python36-python-0:3.6.9-2.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 EUSFixed in: python27-python-0:2.7.16-4.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 EUSFixed in: python27-python-jinja2-0:2.6-15.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7Fixed in: python-0:2.7.5-76.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 EUSFixed in: python27-python-jinja2-0:2.6-15.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 EUSFixed in: rh-python36-python-0:3.6.9-2.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 EUSFixed in: python27-python-0:2.7.16-4.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 EUSFixed in: python27-python-jinja2-0:2.6-15.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 EUSFixed in: rh-python36-python-0:3.6.9-2.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.7 EUSFixed in: rh-python36-python-0:3.6.9-2.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software Collections for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.5 EUSFixed in: python27-python-0:2.7.16-4.el7

redhatpatch availablevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.4 Advanced Update SupportFixed in: python-0:2.7.5-63.el7_4

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software CollectionsFixed in: rh-python34-python

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Software CollectionsFixed in: rh-python35-python

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6Fixed in: python

redhatend of lifevia redhat_api

Product: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5Fixed in: python

Vendor Advisories (3)

nodejsllm-nodejs-302528ae26f0d946CRITICAL

HP ThinPro 8.1 SP4 Security Updates

pjsipllm-pjsip-7ba3ec379210ac70CRITICAL

HP ThinPro 8.1 SP4 Security Updates

redhatCVE-2018-1061Moderate

python: DOS via regular expression backtracking in difflib.IS_LINE_JUNK method in difflib

References

lists.opensuse.org / opensuse-security-announce/2020-01/msg00040.html

access.redhat.com / errata/RHBA-2019:0327

Third Party Advisory

access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3041

Third Party Advisory

access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2018:3505

Third Party Advisory

access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2019:1260

access.redhat.com / errata/RHSA-2019:3725

bugs.python.org / issue32981

Vendor Advisory

bugzilla.redhat.com / show_bug.cgi

Issue Tracking

docs.python.org / 3.5/whatsnew/changelog.html

Vendor Advisory

docs.python.org / 3.6/whatsnew/changelog.html

Vendor Advisory

lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00030.html

Mailing ListThird Party Advisory

lists.debian.org / debian-lts-announce/2018/09/msg00031.html

Mailing ListThird Party Advisory

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/46PVWY5LFP4BRPG3BVQ5QEEFYBVEXHCK

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/AEZ5IQT7OF7Q2NCGIVABOWYGKO7YU3NJ

lists.fedoraproject.org / archives/list/package-announce%40lists.fedoraproject.org/message/JSKPGPZQNTAULHW4UH63KGOOUIDE4RRB

support.hpe.com / hpsc/doc/public/display

usn.ubuntu.com / 3817-1

Third Party Advisory

usn.ubuntu.com / 3817-2

Third Party Advisory

debian.org / security/2018/dsa-4306

Third Party Advisory

debian.org / security/2018/dsa-4307

Third Party Advisory

securitytracker.com / id/1042001

Third Party AdvisoryVDB Entry