Is CVE-2018-20817 actively exploited?

No active exploitation of CVE-2018-20817 has been confirmed so far. Continue monitoring, as exploit status can change.

Can CVE-2018-20817 be exploited remotely?

Yes. CVE-2018-20817 is exploitable remotely over the network (CVSS attack vector: Network).

What is the CVSS score of CVE-2018-20817?

CVE-2018-20817 has a CVSS score of 9.8 (CRITICAL).

HOME VULNERABILITIESCVE-2018-20817

CRITICAL

CVE-2018-20817

CWE-119Published: April 19, 2019· Updated: Jun 17, 2026

9.8

CVSS v3.1

Official Description

SV_SteamAuthClient in various Activision Infinity Ward Call of Duty games before 2015-08-11 is missing a size check when reading authBlob data into a buffer, which allows one to execute code on the remote target machine when sending a steam authentication request. This affects Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops 1, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.

NVD Source

Technical Analysis

CVE-2018-20817 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.

From a weakness classification perspective (CWE-119): Buffer overflow vulnerabilities can lead to arbitrary code execution or denial of service by corrupting adjacent memory.