CVE-2018-1000167 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.8) Deserialization of Untrusted Data vulnerability in suricata-update. 1 public exploit or proof-of-concept reference is indexed, so weaponization risk is real. A fix is available for suricata-update — see the affected versions and patch details below.
OISF suricata-update unsafely deserializes YAML data
EPSS Exploitation Probability
Probability of exploitation in the next 30 days, from FIRST.org EPSS.
How urgent is this, really
Where this sits among everything scored
Real-World Exposure
suricata-updateReal-time download stats are indexed for npm and PyPI packages. This vulnerability affects PyPI packages — download data is not available via public APIs for these ecosystems.
Description
OISF suricata-update version 1.0.0a1 contains an Insecure Deserialization vulnerability in the insecure yaml.load-Function as used in the following files: config.py:136, config.py:142, sources.py:99 and sources.py:131. The "list-sources"-command is affected by this bug. that can result in Remote Code Execution(even as root if suricata-update is called by root). This attack appears to be exploitable via a specially crafted yaml-file at https://www.openinfosecfoundation.org/rules/index.yaml. This vulnerability appears to have been fixed in 1.0.0b1.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🐍PyPI | suricata-update | all versions | 1.0.0b1pip install --upgrade 'suricata-update==1.0.0b1' |
Affected Products
suricata-updateoisfResearch use only. For defensive security, authorized penetration testing, and academic research only. Never execute exploit code against systems without explicit written authorization.
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for suricata-update, including transitive dependencies — a direct dependency you never call can still pull in a vulnerable version.
Fix
Update suricata-update to 1.0.0b1 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2018-1000167 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
Do not deserialise data from untrusted sources: where the format allows it, restrict deserialisation to an explicit allowlist of expected types, and prefer a data-only format (JSON, Protobuf) over one that can reconstruct arbitrary objects until you can upgrade.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2018-1000167 in your dependencies?
Find it across PyPI, including transitive dependencies.