CVE-2018-10361
Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges.
Does this matter?
High impact if exploited, but EPSS currently rates exploitation as unlikely (0.39%). Schedule it in the normal patch cycle and watch for a rise in EPSS or a public exploit.
Description
An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.
- CVSS 3.0
- 7.8 HIGHCVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H
- EPSS
- 0.39% probability · 32th percentile
- CISA KEV
- Not listed
- Weakness
- CWE-668
- Affected
- kde/ktexteditor
- Source
- cve@mitre.org
References
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/07/09/3
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1Mailing List, Third Party Advisory
- http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/07/09/3
- https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055Issue Tracking, Third Party Advisory
Source: NVD record, EPSS from FIRST.org, KEV from CISA. Refreshed daily.