CVE-2018-6198 [Medium] | Security Vulnerability in W3m

CVE-2018-6198 is rated Low Risk (27.2/100): CVSS Medium severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.08%). Monitor for updates and reassess as exploit intelligence or EPSS changes.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-04-13	0.18%	0.08%	-0.10%
2	2025-11-21	0.06%	0.18%	+0.11%
3	2025-11-18	—	0.06%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-04-13

0.18%

0.08%

-0.10%

2025-11-21

0.06%

0.18%

+0.11%

2025-11-18

—

0.06%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
4.7	3.0	MEDIUM	`CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N` 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:H) Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work. 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:N) Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way. Integrity (I:H) They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt. Availability (A:N) Service keeps running; no real outage angle.	1.0	3.6	[email protected]
3.3	2.0	LOW	`AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P` Click to expand Access vector (AV:L) Requires local access to the target system. Access complexity (AC:M) Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones. Authentication (AU:N) No authentication is required. Confidentiality impact (C:N) No confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:P) Partial integrity impact. Availability impact (A:P) Partial availability impact.	3.4	4.9	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

4.7

3.0

MEDIUM

CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:H/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:N/I:H/A:N 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:H): Even with access, the exploit needs extra luck, timing, or a fussy environment to actually work.
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:N): Doesn’t really leak secrets in a meaningful way.
Integrity (I:H): They could widely tamper with or forge data—trust in the data is badly hurt.
Availability (A:N): Service keeps running; no real outage angle.

1.0

3.6

[email protected]

3.3

2.0

LOW

AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:N/I:P/A:P Click to expand

Access vector (AV:L): Requires local access to the target system.
Access complexity (AC:M): Exploitation needs some favorable conditions, but not exceptional ones.
Authentication (AU:N): No authentication is required.
Confidentiality impact (C:N): No confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:P): Partial integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:P): Partial availability impact.

3.4

4.9

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-6198

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	—	CVE-2018-6198: 1 source package rows (w3m); 10 state rows across 8 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community, edge-main); fixed 10, open 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2018-6198
`debian`	unimportant	CVE-2018-6198 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (w3m), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-6198
`redhat`	low	—	https://access.redhat.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6198
`suse`	medium	CVE-2018-6198 severity moderate: SUSE including 12 source package names (w3m, w3m-0.5.3+git20180125-1.14, …), 51 product×package rows across 48 product lines (Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-SAP-BYOS, Image SLES12-SP5-Azure-SAP-On-Demand, … (48 product lines)): Fixed 37, Known Not Affected 14.	https://www.suse.com/security/cve/CVE-2018-6198/
`ubuntu`	low	CVE-2018-6198 low priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (w3m), 4 status rows across 4 suites (artful, trusty, upstream, xenial): released 4.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-6198

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-6198

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
tats	w3m	<= 0.5.3	cpe:2.3:a:tats:w3m::::::::
canonical	ubuntu_linux	12.04	cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:12.04::::esm:::
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	17.10	cpe:2.3:o:canonical:ubuntu_linux:17.10:::::::*

References for CVE-2018-6198

URL	Tags
http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-security-announce/2019-04/msg00028.html
http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/102855	Third Party Advisory VDB Entry
https://bugs.debian.org/888097	Issue Tracking Patch Third Party Advisory
https://github.com/tats/w3m/commit/18dcbadf2771cdb0c18509b14e4e73505b242753	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://salsa.debian.org/debian/w3m/commit/18dcbadf2771cdb0c18509b14e4e73505b242753	Patch Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3555-1/	Third Party Advisory
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3555-2/	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2018-6198

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2018-6198

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-6198

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2018-6198

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-6198

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-6198

References for CVE-2018-6198