CVE-2020-27187 [High] | Security Vulnerability in Partition Manager

An issue was discovered in KDE Partition Manager 4.1.0 before 4.2.0. The kpmcore_externalcommand helper contains a logic flaw in which the service invoking D-Bus is not properly checked. An attacker on the local machine can replace /etc/fstab, and execute mount and other partitioning related commands, while KDE Partition Manager is running. the mount command can then be used to gain full root privileges.

#	Date	Old EPSS score	New EPSS score	Delta (New - Old)
1	2026-06-15	0.12%	0.42%	+0.30%
2	2025-03-30	0.20%	0.12%	-0.08%
3	2025-03-29	—	0.20%	—

Date

Old EPSS score

New EPSS score

Delta (New - Old)

2026-06-15

0.12%

0.42%

+0.30%

2025-03-30

0.20%

0.12%

-0.08%

2025-03-29

—

0.20%

—

Base score	Version	Severity	Vector	Exploitability	Impact	Score source
7.8	3.1	HIGH	`CVSS:3.1/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]
7.2	2.0	HIGH	`AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C` 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:C) Complete confidentiality impact. Integrity impact (I:C) Complete integrity impact. Availability impact (A:C) Complete availability impact.	3.9	10.0	[email protected]

Base score

Version

Severity

Vector

Exploitability

Impact

Score source

7.8

3.1

HIGH

CVSS:3.1/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]

7.2

2.0

HIGH

AV:L/AC:L/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C 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:C): Complete confidentiality impact.
Integrity impact (I:C): Complete integrity impact.
Availability impact (A:C): Complete availability impact.

3.9

10.0

[email protected]

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-27187

vendor	priority	summary	link
`alpine`	high	CVE-2020-27187: 1 source package rows (kpmcore); 7 state rows across 7 repos (3.17-community, 3.18-community, 3.19-community, 3.20-community, 3.21-community, 3.22-community, edge-community); fixed 7, open 0.	https://security.alpinelinux.org/vuln/CVE-2020-27187
`debian`	not yet assigned	CVE-2020-27187 not yet assigned priority: Debian including 1 source packages (kpmcore), 5 status rows across 5 suites (bookworm, bullseye, forky, sid, trixie): resolved 5.	https://security-tracker.debian.org/tracker/CVE-2020-27187
`gentoo`	normal	CVE-2020-27187: 1 GLSA(s) (202011-03), 1 atom(s) (sys-libs/kpmcore); latest impact normal.	https://bugs.gentoo.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=CVE-2020-27187
`ubuntu`	medium	CVE-2020-27187 medium priority: Ubuntu including 1 source packages (kpmcore), 16 status rows across 16 suites (bionic, focal, groovy, hirsute, impish, jammy, kinetic, lunar, mantic, noble, oracular, plucky, questing, trusty, upstream, xenial): not-affected 10, DNE 2, needs-triage 2, ignored 1, released 1.	https://ubuntu.com/security/CVE-2020-27187

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-27187

Vendor	Product	Version	Raw CPE
kde	partition_manager	>= 4.1.0, < 4.2.0	cpe:2.3:a:kde:partition_manager::::::::

References for CVE-2020-27187

URL	Tags
https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1890199	Issue Tracking Vendor Advisory
https://github.com/KDE/partitionmanager/compare/v4.1.0...v4.2.0	Release Notes Third Party Advisory
https://kde.org/info/security/advisory-20201017-1.txt	Patch Vendor Advisory
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/202011-03	Third Party Advisory

URL

CVE-2020-27187

Exploit prediction scoring system (EPSS) score for CVE-2020-27187

Common vulnerability scoring system (CVSS) metrics for CVE-2020-27187

Weakness enumeration for CVE-2020-27187

OS Trackers for CVE-2020-27187

Affected software / configurations for CVE-2020-27187

References for CVE-2020-27187