CVE-2018-20969

Exp

do_ed_script in pch.c in GNU patch through 2.7.6 does not block strings beginning with a ! character. NOTE: this is the same commit as for CVE-2019-13638, but the ! syntax is specific to ed, and is unrelated to a shell metacharacter.

Published: 2019-08-16 Last update: 2026-06-16 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-20969 is rated High Exploit Risk (77.9/100): CVSS High severity, with medium exploitation likelihood (EPSS 2.71%). 1 public exploit reference(s) are indexed (Exploit-DB). EPSS rose +2.26% over the last day, indicating growing attacker interest. 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-2018-20969

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

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-20969

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 0.44% 2.71% +2.26%
2 2025-11-21 0.19% 0.44% +0.26%
3 2025-11-18 — 0.19% —

Full EPSS history (16 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-20969

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: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]
9.3 2.0 HIGH
AV:N/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C)
Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C)
Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C)
Complete availability impact.
 8.6 10.0 [email protected]

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-20969

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-20969

vendor priority summary link
alpine high CVE-2018-20969: 1 source package rows (patch); 41 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 26, open 15. https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-20969
debian not yet assigned CVE-2018-20969 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (patch), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-20969
redhat high — https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-20969
ubuntu medium CVE-2018-20969 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (patch), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bionic, disco, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 5. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-20969

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-20969

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
gnu patch <= 2.7.6 cpe:2.3:a:gnu:patch:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-20969

cvelogic Threat Intelligence