CVE-2018-20483

Exp

set_file_metadata in xattr.c in GNU Wget before 1.20.1 stores a file's origin URL in the user.xdg.origin.url metadata attribute of the extended attributes of the downloaded file, which allows local users to obtain sensitive information (e.g., credentials contained in the URL) by reading this attribute, as demonstrated by getfattr. This also applies to Referer information in the user.xdg.referrer.url metadata attribute. According to 2016-07-22 in the Wget ChangeLog, user.xdg.origin.url was partially based on the behavior of fwrite_xattr in tool_xattr.c in curl.

Published: 2018-12-26 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-20483 is rated High Exploit Risk (63.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.66%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). Public exploits are available—assess exposure, apply mitigations, and prioritize patching.

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

Public exploit references (Exploit-DB) for CVE-2018-20483

EDB-ID Source Kind Published Link
— nvd_ref exploit_tag Exploit-DB ↗

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-20483

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 0.04% 0.66% +0.62%
2 2026-04-13 0.06% 0.04% -0.01%
3 2025-08-30 — 0.06% —

Full EPSS history (10 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-20483

CVSS metrics for this CVE.

Base score Version Severity Vector Exploitability Impact Score source
7.8 3.0 HIGH
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/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:L)
A normal user session is enough; they don’t have to be admin.
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: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]
2.1 2.0 LOW
AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:P/I:N/A:N Click to expand
Access vector (AV:L)
Requires local access to the target system.
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.
 3.9 2.9 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-20483

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-20483

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-20483: 1 source package rows (wget); 25 state rows across 10 repos (3.10-main, 3.11-main, 3.12-main, 3.17-main, 3.18-main, 3.19-main, 3.20-main, 3.21-main, 3.22-main, edge-main); fixed 10, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-20483
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-20483 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (wget), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-20483
gentoo normal CVE-2018-20483: 1 GLSA(s) (201903-08), 1 atom(s) (net-misc/wget); latest impact normal. https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2018-20483
redhat medium — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-20483
suse medium CVE-2018-20483 severity moderate: SUSE including 252 source package names (amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20210304-hvm-ssd-x86_64, amazon/suse-sles-15-sp1-chost-byos-v20220127-hvm-ssd-x86_64, …), 458 product×package rows across 220 product lines (HPE Helion OpenStack 8, Image SLES15-SP3-BYOS-Azure, … (220 product lines)): Fixed 267, Known Affected 157, Known Not Affected 34. https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-20483/
ubuntu low CVE-2018-20483 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (wget), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, cosmic, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 3, not-affected 2. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-20483

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-20483

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu wget < 1.20.1 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:wget:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-20483

cvelogic Threat Intelligence