CVE-2018-20022

LibVNC before 2f5b2ad1c6c99b1ac6482c95844a84d66bb52838 contains multiple weaknesses CWE-665: Improper Initialization vulnerability in VNC client code that allows attacker to read stack memory and can be abuse for information disclosure. Combined with another vulnerability, it can be used to leak stack memory layout and in bypassing ASLR

Published: 2018-12-19 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]

Conclusion & alert: CVE-2018-20022 is rated Moderate Risk (56.6/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.94%). Mandatory action: Review affected assets and schedule remediation.

Risk is dynamic; we continuously reassess and refresh what is shown on this page as upstream context changes.

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-20022

EPSS lead: Daily EPSS estimates relative likelihood of exploitation; percentile ranks this CVE among scored vulnerabilities (higher = more severe relative rank).

# Date Old EPSS score New EPSS score Delta (New - Old)
1 2026-06-15 6.18% 2.94% -3.24%
2 2025-12-28 5.26% 6.18% +0.92%
3 2025-12-27 5.26%

Full EPSS history (20 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-20022

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.5 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:N)
Could be attacked over the internet or any normal routed network—not just someone sitting at the machine.
Attack complexity (AC:L)
Once they can reach the bug, pulling it off is straightforward—no weird race conditions or rare setup.
Privileges required (PR:N)
No account or special rights needed—anonymous or random user is enough.
User interaction (UI:N)
Nobody has to click “OK” or open a trap file; it can work without a victim helping.
Scope (S:U)
Damage stays in the same “trust bubble” as the broken component—no big spill into unrelated systems.
Confidentiality (C:H)
Serious risk that confidential data gets exposed in a big way.
Integrity (I:N)
Data isn’t meaningfully altered or forged.
Availability (A:N)
Service keeps running; no real outage angle.
3.9 3.6 [email protected]
5.0 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:L)
Exploitation conditions are straightforward and predictable.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:N)
No integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:N)
No availability impact.
10.0 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-20022

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-20022

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-20022: 1 source package rows (libvncserver); 4 state rows across 2 repos (3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 0, open 4. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-20022
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-20022 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 4 source packages (libvncserver, ssvnc, tightvnc, veyon), 20 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 20. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-20022
gentoo normal CVE-2018-20022: 2 GLSA(s) (201908-05, 202006-06), 2 atom(s) (net-libs/libvncserver, net-misc/ssvnc); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-20022
redhat low https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-20022
suse medium CVE-2018-20022 severity moderate: SUSE including 22 source package names (LibVNCServer-0.9.1-160.6.1, LibVNCServer-devel-0.9.1-160.6.1, …), 86 product×package rows across 54 product lines (SUSE Enterprise Storage 4, SUSE Linux Enterprise High Performance Computing 12 SP5, … (54 product lines)): Fixed 86. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-20022/
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-20022 medium priority: Ubuntu including 5 source packages (italc, libvncserver, ssvnc, tightvnc, x11vnc), 84 status rows across 18 suites (bionic, cosmic, disco, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 41, DNE 14, released 12, ignored 9, needs-triage 7, needed 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-20022

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-20022

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
libvnc_project libvncserver < 0.9.12 cpe:2.3:a:libvnc_project:libvncserver:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 8.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:8.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
debian debian_linux 9.0 cpe:2.3:o:debian:debian_linux:9.0:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 14.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:14.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 16.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:16.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.04 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.04:*:*:*:lts:*:*:*
canonical ubuntu_linux 18.10 cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:18.10:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-20022

cvelogic Threat Intelligence