CVE-2018-20250

Exp

In WinRAR versions prior to and including 5.61, There is path traversal vulnerability when crafting the filename field of the ACE format (in UNACEV2.dll). When the filename field is manipulated with specific patterns, the destination (extraction) folder is ignored, thus treating the filename as an absolute path.

Published: 2019-02-05 Last update: 2025-10-31 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Analyzed，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-20250 is rated Critical Active Threat (92.6/100): CVSS High severity, with high exploitation likelihood (EPSS 93.46%, 100th percentile). CISA KEV confirms active exploitation (added 2022-02-15) affecting RARLAB / WinRAR. a weakness (CWE-22) Unauthenticated remote administrative access may be possible. EPSS rose +1.50% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. The CISA remediation deadline has passed—treat as an emergency patch priority.

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

CISA KEV Record for CVE-2018-20250

Name: WinRAR Absolute Path Traversal Vulnerability · CISA KEV detail

Exploit added: 2022-02-15

Action due: 2022-08-15

Required action: Apply updates per vendor instructions.

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2018-20250

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
46756 exploit_db edb 2019-04-25 Exploit-DB ↗
46552 exploit_db edb 2019-02-22 Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-20250

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 2025-11-21 91.96% 93.46% +1.50%
2 2025-11-18 93.48% 91.96% -1.52%
3 2025-11-01 — 93.48% —

Full EPSS history (26 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-20250

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 [email protected]
7.8 3.1 HIGH
CVSS:3.1/AV:L/AC:L/PR:N/UI:R/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H Click to expand
Attack vector (AV:L)
They already need access on the box, or another person has to do something wrong; it’s not a remote drive-by.
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:R)
A real person has to do something—click, install, enable—otherwise it doesn’t land.
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:H)
They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:H)
Could take the service down hard or make it unusable for people who depend on it.
 1.8 5.9 134c704f-9b21-4f2e-91b3-4a467353bcc0
6.8 2.0 MEDIUM
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:P/I:P/A:P Click to expand
Access vector (AV:N)
Can be exploited remotely over network reachability.
Access complexity (AC:M)
Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N)
No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:P)
Partial confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P)
Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P)
Partial availability impact.
 8.6 6.4 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-20250

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-20250

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
rarlab winrar <= 5.61 cpe:2.3:a:rarlab:winrar:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-20250

URL Tags
http://packetstormsecurity.com/files/152618/RARLAB-WinRAR-ACE-Format-Input-Validation-Remote-Code-Execution.html Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
http://www.rapid7.com/db/modules/exploit/windows/fileformat/winrar_ace Third Party Advisory
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/106948 Broken Link Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://github.com/blau72/CVE-2018-20250-WinRAR-ACE Exploit Third Party Advisory
https://research.checkpoint.com/extracting-code-execution-from-winrar/ Exploit Press/Media Coverage Third Party Advisory
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46552/ Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.exploit-db.com/exploits/46756/ Exploit Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://www.win-rar.com/whatsnew.html Release Notes
https://www.cisa.gov/known-exploited-vulnerabilities-catalog?field_cve=CVE-2018-20250 US Government Resource
cvelogic Threat Intelligence