CVE-2018-20167

Terminology before 1.3.1 allows Remote Code Execution because popmedia is mishandled, as demonstrated by an unsafe "cat README.md" command when \e}pn is used

published December 17, 2018

CVSS
—
EPSS
3%
Percentile
85.6
In the wild
Unconfirmed
What it is

Terminology before 1.3.1 allows Remote Code Execution because popmedia is mishandled, as demonstrated by an unsafe "cat README.md" command when \e}pn is used. A popmedia control sequence can allow the malicious execution of executable file formats registered in the X desktop share MIME types (/usr/share/applications). The control sequence defers unknown file types to the handle_unknown_media() function, which executes xdg-open against the filename specified in the sequence. The use of xdg-open for all unknown file types allows executable file formats with a registered shared MIME type to be executed. An attacker can achieve remote code execution by introducing an executable file and a plain text file containing the control sequence through a fake software project (e.g., in Git or a tarball). When the control sequence is rendered (such as with cat), the executable file will be run.

The record
Technical detail
CVSS
Not scored
CVSS v4.0
Not supplied
EPSS
0.02676 · 85.6th percentile
Published
2018-12-17T05:00Z
EPSS history
Timeline
  • 17 DEC 05:00Z
    Terminology before 1.3.1 allows Remote Code Execution because popmedia is mishandled, as demonstrated by an unsafe "cat README.md" command when \e}pn is used
    cvelistv5