HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2018-10361
HIGH

CVE-2018-10361

CWE-668Published: April 25, 2018· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

7.8
CVSS v3.1

Official Description

An issue was discovered in KTextEditor 5.34.0 through 5.45.0. Insecure handling of temporary files in the KTextEditor's kauth_ktexteditor_helper service (as utilized in the Kate text editor) can allow other unprivileged users on the local system to gain root privileges. The attack occurs when one user (who has an unprivileged account but is also able to authenticate as root) writes a text file using Kate into a directory owned by a another unprivileged user. The latter unprivileged user conducts a symlink attack to achieve privilege escalation.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2018-10361 requires local access, meaning attackers must already have a foothold on the target system.

Exploitation requires low privileges, which limits the exposure to scenarios where an attacker has already gained initial access.

A successful exploit results in complete confidentiality breach (data exposure), full integrity compromise (data manipulation), availability disruption (denial of service), with a CVSS base score of 7.8.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorLocal
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.Low
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.0/AV:L/AC:L/PR:L/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

kde1 product(s)
ktexteditor
Source: NVD CPE · 1 total CPE entries

Exploit & PoC Resources

NO KNOWN EXPLOITNo public exploit confirmed at this time
Exploit-DB
Offensive Security exploit database
GitHub PoC Search
Community PoC repositories
Rapid7 / Metasploit
Metasploit module search
PacketStorm
Security advisories & exploits
NVD Detail
Official NIST entry
MITRE CVE
CVE Program entry
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Official Patches & Advisories

ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1
ADVISORYhttps://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055
ADVISORYhttp://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1
ADVISORYhttps://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055

All References (6)

→
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1Mailing List · Third Party Advisory
→
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/07/09/3
→
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055Issue Tracking · Third Party Advisory
→
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2018/04/24/1Mailing List · Third Party Advisory
→
http://www.openwall.com/lists/oss-security/2019/07/09/3
→
https://bugzilla.suse.com/show_bug.cgi?id=1033055Issue Tracking · Third Party Advisory

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2018-10361
CVSS Score7.8 / 10
SeverityHIGH
WeaknessCWE-668
CISA KEVNo
Affected1 vendor(s)
PublishedApr 25, 2018

Related CVEs (CWE-668)

CVE-2012-1846
10.0
CVE-2019-8779
10.0
CVE-2022-1467
9.9
CVE-2019-16541
9.9
CVE-2026-20160
9.8
CVE-2026-45411
9.8

Recommended Actions

  • →Apply vendor patches immediately
  • →Monitor CVE-2018-10361 in threat intel feeds
  • →Review IDS/IPS signatures for exploitation attempts
Data sourced from NVD (NIST), CISA KEV, and EPSS (FIRST). Analysis generated by CTIWATCH.COM. CVE data is provided under the NVD usage policy.
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