HOMEVULNERABILITIESCVE-2018-13259
CRITICAL

CVE-2018-13259

CWE-20Published: September 5, 2018· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

9.8
CVSS v3.1

Official Description

An issue was discovered in zsh before 5.6. Shebang lines exceeding 64 characters were truncated, potentially leading to an execve call to a program name that is a substring of the intended one.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2018-13259 can be exploited remotely over the network without requiring physical or adjacent access, significantly expanding the attack surface for threat actors.

The vulnerability requires no privileges and no user interaction, making it a prime target for automated exploitation campaigns and worm-like propagation.

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 9.8.

CVSS v3.1 Vector Breakdown

Exploitability
Attack VectorNetwork
Attack ComplexityLow
Privileges Req.None
User InteractionNone
ScopeUnchanged
Impact
ConfidentialityHigh
IntegrityHigh
AvailabilityHigh
CVSS:3.0/AV:N/AC:L/PR:N/UI:N/S:U/C:H/I:H/A:H

Affected Vendors & Products

Canonical1 product(s)
ubuntu linux
zsh1 product(s)
zsh
Source: NVD CPE · 4 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
External links open in a new tab. Always verify in a controlled environment before use.

Official Patches & Advisories

PATCHhttps://bugs.debian.org/908000
PATCHhttps://sourceforge.net/p/zsh/code/ci/1c4c7b6a4d17294df028322b70c53803a402233d
PATCHhttps://bugs.debian.org/908000
PATCHhttps://sourceforge.net/p/zsh/code/ci/1c4c7b6a4d17294df028322b70c53803a402233d
ADVISORYhttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-02
ADVISORYhttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3764-1/
ADVISORYhttps://www.zsh.org/mla/zsh-announce/136
ADVISORYhttps://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-02
ADVISORYhttps://usn.ubuntu.com/3764-1/
ADVISORYhttps://www.zsh.org/mla/zsh-announce/136

All References (14)

→
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2017
→
https://bugs.debian.org/908000Mailing List · Patch · Third Party Advisory
→
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00000.html
→
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-02Third Party Advisory
→
https://sourceforge.net/p/zsh/code/ci/1c4c7b6a4d17294df028322b70c53803a402233dPatch · Third Party Advisory
→
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3764-1/Third Party Advisory
→
https://www.zsh.org/mla/zsh-announce/136Mailing List · Release Notes · Vendor Advisory
→
https://access.redhat.com/errata/RHSA-2019:2017
→
https://bugs.debian.org/908000Mailing List · Patch · Third Party Advisory
→
https://lists.debian.org/debian-lts-announce/2020/12/msg00000.html
→
https://security.gentoo.org/glsa/201903-02Third Party Advisory
→
https://sourceforge.net/p/zsh/code/ci/1c4c7b6a4d17294df028322b70c53803a402233dPatch · Third Party Advisory
→
https://usn.ubuntu.com/3764-1/Third Party Advisory
→
https://www.zsh.org/mla/zsh-announce/136Mailing List · Release Notes · Vendor Advisory

Quick Facts

CVE IDCVE-2018-13259
CVSS Score9.8 / 10
SeverityCRITICAL
WeaknessCWE-20
CISA KEVNo
Affected2 vendor(s)
PublishedSep 5, 2018

Related CVEs (CWE-20)

CVE-2011-1018
10.0
CVE-2007-4915
10.0
CVE-2009-0545
10.0
CVE-2023-41917
10.0
CVE-2011-0923
10.0
CVE-2011-0285
10.0

Recommended Actions

  • →Apply vendor patches immediately
  • →Monitor CVE-2018-13259 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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