CVE-2018-6516

On Windows only, with a specifically crafted configuration file an attacker could get Puppet PE client tools (aka pe-client-tools) 16.4.x prior to 16.4.6, 17.3.x prior to 17.3.6, and 18.1.x prior to 18.1.2 to load arbitrary code with privilege escalation.

Published: 2018-06-14 Last update: 2024-11-21 Assigner: [email protected] Source: [email protected]
NVD Status：Modified，CVE State: published
View at NVD, CVE.org, EUVD

CVE-2018-6516 is rated Moderate Risk (46.1/100): CVSS High severity, with low exploitation likelihood (EPSS 0.22%). 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-2018-6516

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 2025-03-17 0.06% 0.22% +0.15%
2 2023-03-07 0.89% 0.06% -0.82%
3 2022-02-04 — 0.89% —

Full EPSS history (4 records total)

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2018-6516

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]
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-2018-6516

OS Trackers for CVE-2018-6516

vendor priority summary link
debian unimportant CVE-2018-6516 unimportant priority: Debian including 1 source packages (puppet), 1 status rows across 1 suites (bullseye): resolved 1. https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2018-6516
ubuntu negligible CVE-2018-6516 negligible priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (puppet), 7 status rows across 7 suites (artful, bionic, cosmic, disco, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 5, ignored 1, needs-triage 1. https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2018-6516

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2018-6516

Vendor Product Version Raw CPE
puppet puppet_enterprise_client_tools >= 16.4.0, < 16.4.6 cpe:2.3:a:puppet:puppet_enterprise_client_tools:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
puppet puppet_enterprise_client_tools >= 17.3.0, < 17.3.6 cpe:2.3:a:puppet:puppet_enterprise_client_tools:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*
puppet puppet_enterprise_client_tools >= 18.1.0, < 18.1.2 cpe:2.3:a:puppet:puppet_enterprise_client_tools:*:*:*:*:*:*:*:*

References for CVE-2018-6516

cvelogic Threat Intelligence